Precursors
by Typerim
Summary: With the defeat of Tartar, it looked like the crisis was averted. However, it seemed that he had more plans that were set in motion as a mysterious pod crash lands, showing that humans hadn't all gone extinct, and that they had been out there, waiting on their chance.
1. Crashlanding

**Before starting, I would like you to know that this will be my first story here. Please send me feedback if you think it to be necessary. Next, I'd like to add that the inkling POV of humans wasn't my own idea. I am, however, trying to make my own story with this idea in mind. Again, send any possible feedback. It would be much appreciated.**

"Four?" A voice said, after hearing nothing but silence on the other end of the line.

"Let me guess. Is it about the giant statue that has appeared near Inkopolis?" Four said, looking out of her apartment window. Gazing at a giant monstrosity.

"No. It is, as far as we know, unrelated" Said the voice on the other end.

Agent Four turned her back on the window and sat down on her couch. "Well… What is it then?"

"We're not sure, all we know is that this 'thing' came crashing down near the outpost."

"Why don't you go out to investigate then?" Four sighed. "You could do that without me, you know."

"We are waiting here for the return of the captain and Three. They said that they had the statue situation under control and that they had a new recruit."

"A new recruit? Then why not let a simple investigation not be their first mission?" Four said while fully aware of the answer she was going to get.

"You know that it would be irresponsible to send a new agent out on their own." The voice said in a patronizing way.

"And exceptions are made when large things are at stake" The voice added before Four could have even started complaining about her first assignment, or the fact that it was right besides their headquarters.

Four pondered for a little bit, let out a sigh and said: "Alright, I'll be right there. I guess I can meet the new agent if I am quick about it."

Agent Four slowly stood up as she hang up and started making her way to the outpost.

"_With all the commotion around this big statue having risen up from the sea, it is sure easy to go by unnoticed."_ Four thought to herself. "_Why can't there always be something new and frighting when I get called?"_ Four thought to herself, as she was making here way through the city trying to go by unnoticed as usual. Still she wouldn't even think about not paying attention to her surroundings, as it would only take a single bystander to get her cover blown.

Four reached the manhole leading to the outpost without any problems at all. No one paid any attention as they where all staring at this abomination that had risen out of the sea. Most, if not all were left wondering what it was, why it was there, and what it's purpose was. Even Four was left in the dark when it came to these questions, but she figured that she would get to hear all about it when Three got back, or better said, had to ask her to even speak with her about it. She was also left to wonder as to who this recruit was, and what their connection to all of this was, if there even was one.

Upon arriving at the outpost, she was greeted by agent Two, who was looking quite nervous. She could also see thick, black smoke rising up from not far behind her.

"Great. Now that you are here, we can get ready for a closer inspection." Said Two whilst handing Four her weapon.

"But what did you need me for?" Four asked furiously. "It's most likely just some piece of rubble that came flying of that big statue thing."

Two shook her head and let out a deep sigh. "All that we were able to tell is that it looks to be a kind of container or capsule. We are suspecting it to be some Octarain tech thingy."

"That is all that you could come up with?" Said Four, looking a bit puzzled as to why she was even called in the first place.

"We thought that if that piece of metal might contain their forces, we could do with some backup."

"Let me guess, you want me to inspect it." Four said, with a grin on her face.

Two mumbled: "Yea… Neither me nor One want to come any closer to that thing."

"Where is One, anyway?" Four asked

"She hid herself inside the captains hut."

"So much for backup."

"_What could possibly be so scary that One and even Two don't want anything to do with it?" _Four started walking towards the smoke plumes that where slowly diminishing in size. "_Or is just all some kind of joke. If it were, it sure wasn't a good one."_

Half expecting agent One sitting next to a campfire, rolling and laughing at what she would probably have seen as the greatest joke of all times. She indeed saw what Two had vaguely been describing, a large metal construct, cone like in shape, but without a top, instead there were some cables connecting the pod to some fabric that had clearly seen better days. Upon closer inspection, it indeed appeared to be some technologically advanced structure. Four could see a jumble of wires protruding form behind a loose plate. Then she noticed a round hole in the middle of what was probably the largest panel, since it spanned nearly the entire capsule from top to bottom. What was even more worrying was that her ink didn't seem to stay on the panels, it bounced right of.

Four looked back in hopes of seeing Two, however, it seemed that she hadn't followed her. "_So far for the 'we' mentality." _She thought as she decided to move closer to see if there was anything else noteworthy, and there indeed was. Next to the large panel was a handle with a arrow around it, suggesting to turn the handle. What was interesting was that there was something inscribed on the arrow, but it didn't look like any language she had ever seen, although it vaguely resemble something, but she couldn't remember what that was.

Nervously looking around, Four quickly came to a conclusion. If she were to turn the handle, she had no idea what would happen, but if she didn't, than she would be no better than those two back there. She was called here because Two thought here to be brave enough to do this. "_If there were indeed enemies inside this thing, they would still have my back if I need to retreat_." Four took a deep breath, and tried to twist the handle.

As heavy as it was, it slowly turned as the hissing sound of hydraulics could be heard coming from the large panel.


	2. Boxed trinkets

As the panel started to move outward, Four could feel cold air coming from behind it as she swiftly moved back and got in a position to shoot whatever would move form behind that door.

While the large door slowly swung open, the agent could see what on first sight appeared to be the inside of a large freezer. Icicles where hanging from the ceiling, and the walls were covered in large ice crystals. In the middle stood a large chair facing the door. In it was what Four could only describe as a large suit of some kind. As far as she could tell, the suit would be about twice as high as she was. Next to the chair lay a suitcase, that, just as the suit, was way larger than that Four was used to seeing.

Four hesitated, she could retreat and report. She was however, quite curious as to what was in the suitcase. She decided to move back a bit closer to the door and try to shoot some ink into it. The blob of ink hit the floor and left a small puddle.

"_At least there is no one in this thing. Maybe now the others will have build up enough courage to take over and have a closer look themselves." _She activated her radio that was build into her headpiece in hopes of finely getting those cowards to look at this thing.

"Everything here seems fine, no sign of enemies, or life for that matter." Four said, hoping to be done with this mission.

"Do you need our assistance" Two answered.

"Even more important, is there anything in there that is worth looking at?" A different voice curiously asked.

"Agent One, this is not the time to be looking to expand your collection of trinkets." Two blared furiously.

"Well, there is a large suitcase and a weird..." Four described as she was deafened by a cry of joy as agent One came running from the shack straight towards Four.

"It's like a giant freezer" She said, looking a bit disappointed. "But I do wonder what that large thing sitting in the chair is. Shall we pull it out so it can heat up in the sun for a bit?"

Agent Two, still listening in on the conversation, said: "Just lay it down so that we can keep an eye on it from here, I don't want to have to sit there waiting for that thing to defrost."

One wasn't listening, she had already stepped inside and had started to pull on the giant suit.

"A little help here, Four." She said as was struggling to keep her balance because of the suit that had now nearly crushed her after she pulled it out of the chair.

With a lot of effort, One and Four managed to pull the suit into viewing range of Two, who was still waiting at the hut, looking at the sky. They left the suit face down on the ground with the sun shining brightly on it, as they couldn't move it any further.

"Wasn't there … a bag … or something?" One asked, while gasping.

"It … was a … suitcase, and it … should still be … inside of … the pod." Two answered, also wheezing.

One went back and threw Four the suitcase.

"There is also some big chest on wheels here." She shouted. "Can you give me a hand?"

Not to long after, One and Four came back up to Two who was still staring into the sky. One was pulling on the wheeled chest as Four was pushing it from behind with one hand whilst balancing the suitcase on it with the other. As they came close to the hut, Two started talking, still looking up into the empty sky above.

"You know that there is a high risk that those boxes contain some sort of trap?"

"If you don't want to know what is inside of these huge containers, that is fine with me. I, however, want to know what is kept in these things." Agent One snapped back at her, as she opened the shacks door.

"What do you want to open first?" Four asked, feeling a mix of curiosity and the urge to shelter herself behind a large wall.

"Let us first take a look at the small box." One said, while already trying to tackle the first of the two clips on the top.

She smiled as the first one had popped of and the second one had followed soon after. Making the suitcase fall open and dispensing all of its contents on the floor.

She chuckled as she saw Four now hopping around on one leg after getting hit on the foot by what appeared to be a large book. It was accompanied by a few more books of varying shapes and sizes, some sheets of paper, and a large pen.

"Well, so far we haven't been to badly damaged." She giggled, while receiving a dirty look from Four.

"I know not to trust you with weaponry. This is however a new all time low for you." Four grumbled. "What's next? Needing to take a step back when you… you..." Four couldn't even think of anything more simple than opening a briefcase.

Meanwhile, One, while barely containing her laughter, had begun to try and open the large wheeled box. Which proved to be difficult since it had a large button that didn't budge as easily as she had hoped.

"This is a tough one." One said, while trying her best to put as much force on the button as she could, while Four was slowly backing up in fear of what might come out to hit her this time.

One continued to push until the box sprang open with a loud click. Both saw that in it was no more than some clothing. However, when One picked up a sweater that was lying on the top of the pile, she noticed that is was large. Not large by a few sizes, but so large that when she put it on, it reached to her knees. What Four found odd however, was that One could barely fit her head through the collar, which made her wonder who those clothes would have been made for.

While thinking of what could be so large, but have such a small head, Four was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter slowly approaching.


	3. From ending to beginning

Four looked up at One, who now sat inside the box with some large socks on her tentacles and a scarf laying on top of her head. While she looked up and said: "Can you drag this box outside?"

"Why would I do that?" Four ask puzzled, but all One did was give a mischievous look.

Agent Two was waving at the sky while first a box, and behind that Four came out of the shack. She looked up to she what Two was waving at and saw how the helicopter passed by as she saw two superjumps. The two were landing right near the entrance kettle.

"weren't they with more?" Four asked Two.

"There are still some on the helicopter." Two said, still waving at it.

"But then why aren't they coming down her..." As Four got interrupted by the landing of the two.

"Welcome back, Agent Three." Agent Two said, still waving at the helicopter that was now quickly growing smaller in the distance. "And who is it tha..."

The box next to Four opened as One jumped out with a large smile on her face, and while Two and even Four were caught by surprise, Three didn't even flinch, while the character behind her tried it's best to hide behind Three.

Four, now noticing the figure that now stood behind Three, trembling with fear, raised her gun and shouted: "Three, behind you." as the character now ducked to make itself as small as possible.

"Put that down Four." Three said without any hesitation in her voice. "This is our new addition to ..."

"You mean the recruit I was told about?" Four asked, feeling ashamed to have made such a mistake.

"She is already assigned a number. Meet agent Eight." She said, as she quickly stepped aside to show the figure that was still crouched down behind her.

"And One, where did you get that box from? I can't remember having seen it around here." Three asked.

"I found it" One answered.

"Where?" Three asked. However, instead of answering, One dove back into the box.

"That's it, I am going to bust some targets." agent Three called out, as she furiously stomped away towards some training dummies at the back of the island.

Out of the box came some mumbling that went something like: "Typically Three."

Four and Two where both looking at Eight, who was now standing again while looking at Three's back as she walked away. She slowly moved her eyes towards Four and Two.

"So you are the new agent?" Four asked, trying to break through the silence that had fallen.

"Indeed. The captain has appointed me as a new agent." Eight responded, almost like she had been preparing that sentence for a while now.

"So where are you from?" Two asked, in an attempt to continue the conversation.

Eight stayed silent as tears formed in the corners of her eyes, making Two quickly regret her decision. Four, also seeing how things were taking a turn for the worse, gave the box next to her a kick.

One popped back out.

"Ouch. What was that for." One screamed at Four, who responded with a slight nod towards Eight.

After a few more seconds of silence, One carefully suggested: "Maybe she could help us out with that thing that we left to warm up."

Four turned around and was soon followed by Two, Eight, and One, who was still wearing the sweater and socks. It didn't take long for Four to notice something that made her stop dead in her tracks, which in turn led to Eight bumping into her.

"What is the reason for this sudden stop?" Eight asked her politely while taking a step back.

"It's gone." Four said, raising her gun as she slowly continued walking.

"Maybe Three just wants to give us a good scare." One suggested.

"That sounds more like you, and luckily there is only one of you." Two said, without laughing.

As they turned around the rock arch that obstructed the view of the pod and the training grounds, they saw Three and the suit, both standing while looking at one another in what appeared to be the most intense staring contest that had ever existed.

* * *

While he had never been good at getting out of bed, waking up from a cryosleep was a lot worse than that he had imagined it to be. He had expected to wake up in his chair, or even a bed for that matter, but instead he got to wake up face first in some soil.

As he looked up he saw clear marks that were left as someone had dragged him out of the pod that he vaguely remembered as the pristine metal cone it used to be, as it now lay, slightly tilted, crashed down into the edge of the plateau that he was currently on. He also noticed a stripe of something yellow that formed a line on the floor, like some giant yellow slug had come past. What made him even more confused then he already was, was that the trail slowly vanished. He just shrug it of as an illusion from the long sleep he had just awoken out of.

As he stood up and looked around, he was baffled, he was clearly on some sort of plateau as he saw some rocky cliff faces marking the other end of a valley that went past a large part of his landing site. What however, caught him by surprise was that there were some people standing not to far away form him. He was told that he would be one of the first to land upon the 'new earth' as they called it, but they had never told him about the fact that some of the others would be children. At least, he thought they were. He wasn't the biggest around, but these figures were clearly smaller than he was.

As he stood there, watching these figures have what appeared to be a small conversation, he picked up some of what they were saying, or better said, realized that they weren't speaking in a language that he could understand. A frightening thought came over him. _"What if they weren't like him. What if humanity had just lived on while he had been stuck up there. However ..." _He reached for his pocket, picking out his phone. It had been upgraded to feature a few nifty new tools. He had no idea what they were, he had just gotten the explanation that it would be like an electronic Swiss army knife. He had been in suspension for about 12.000 years.

While wondering as to what he had to do with this situation, one of the figures came walking around the stone pillar that he had been hiding behind. It was hard to say which of the two was more surprised to see the other. As he took a better look at the small figure that stood in front of him, he quickly realized that whatever it was, it wasn't human, at least, not how he knew them. At first it looked to be a child with an over sized head with a mask that covered the space around her eyes, with on her head some sort of slick helmet that featured some long tentacle like extensions.

They kept staring at each other, until they got interrupted by the other child like figures that now came around the corner, with the one in front wielding some sort of gun.


	4. Communication

It was hard to say who was the most surprised. Three just kept staring, Two and Four both looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders in unison, Eight seemed to be in some sort of deep thought, and One slowly raised her hand and started waiving, with a nervous smile on her face. The human raised his empty hand and wove back, baffled by the fact that he now noticed that the one he was waiving at was wearing his sweater.

He took of his helmet, since it was slowly getting quite warm. Three simply kept staring at him, now straight into his eyes, while Eight seemed to have finally reached a conclusion, since he calmly said: "It looks to be a human."

"But… But…" Four stuttered.

"They went extinct thousands of years ago." Two filled in.

"Then how would you explain what I'm looking at. " Three said resolutely.

"Imagine showing this to cap, he'd loose it." One said, still waiving as if the world would end if she stopped.

"The captain seemed to know more about these humans." Eight noted.

"Well he isn't here now." Three sneered back at her. "What do we do with it now?"

The human in question was also perplexed, as he could make nothing of what was being said. All he heard was some weird noise, although he did figure that they were probably communicating. His phone had reached the same conclusion, as it's screen now lit up, accompanied by a robotic voice: "Foreign language detected. Appropriate translation found. Downloading."

Three finally let her eyes of the man, as she now was now staring at the phone. Now it was their turn to be perplexed by what ,to them, sounded no more then gibberish. The human was now just wondering what his phone was even capable of, and where it was downloading from.

Silence returned as everyone was now staring at the phone in his hand. One, still frantically waiving her hand, stopped doing so as she decided to just try and greet the newcomer.

"Hi" she said so faintly that it could only be heard because of the silence that still loomed over the group.

"Hi" the phone repeated in English, making One wonder if she was the cause of that.

"Is that my sweater?" the human asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Is that my sweater?" the phone repeated after him, now for the rest to understand.

One blushed as if she had just realized that she had gone through someone else his stuff and was wearing something that wasn't hers. She opened her mouth, but kept silent, and the rest did the same.

After a few minutes of no one doing anything but staring at each other, full of questions, Three said with a serious voice: "I'm done with this. You know where I'll be. he's your problem now." as she stomped of past the human heading for the training grounds with the phone repeating every last word.

"How about a little introduction?" the human suggested.

It then hit him that, how hard he tried, he couldn't remember anything apart from just a few weeks before his 'long sleep'. He still had vague scraps of memories from before that, like his name 'William' and that people used to call him 'Will', but not much else.

Since the rest stayed silent, he began: "My name is William."

The phone repeated the first part: "My name is" but then sounded some sort of buzzer instead of translating his name.

"What's your name?" Four asked calmly.

"William" he replied, while the phone seemed to stay silent and not translate that at all.

Four tried to repeat it, but all it brought her was a coughing fit. This led Will to say: "Just call me Seven, if that works for you."

Four, still coughing, nodded, as Two started to introduce everyone.

"You can call me Two." She said. "And the one coughing is called Four. The one next to me, you can call One." she continued while now pointing at everyone she called. "That there is Eight, and the one back there we call Three."

"Shall we continue this conversation inside?" Eight asked while looking up as if she had just realized that there were others around her.

"You go, I'll have a looks'y at Three. Maybe cheer her up." One said in her usual upbeat way.

"I don't know about you." Two whispered to Four. "But at this rate One is going to end up getting splatted by Three." Four nodded, since she was still trying to regulate her breathing.

* * *

"So let me get this straight. You want me to take these two in?" Four said with disbelief.

"It is just until we can find somewhere else, and besides, they need someone to be their tutor." Two calmly explained. "And we both know how Three will handle them." she added, giving Two the idea that she could read her thoughts.

"How am I even supposed to bring them to my home. I can understand that Eight isn't to big of a problem, but how am I going to get a human there, let alone out of the canyon." Two ranted, making Will wonder how the rest was coming and going if it was something they thought that he couldn't do.

"How do you normally get to your house then?" He curiously asked.

"By kettle" Four replied casually, filling his head with the idea of flying inside giant kettles.

"The captain does have a platform he uses to ship stuff, although it only goes until the edge of the canyon, but from there it is just a little walk." Two opted.

"Fine" Four sighed. "But what do I do with them anyway?"

"Just show them around. I'll discus this matter with the captain once I get the chance." Two told her like it was as simple as one plus one. "I'll contact you when we have an alternative."

"Lets get going then" Four said with a clear lack of motivation.


	5. Packing up

"I have packed Seven's handheld box" Eight said, handing the human his suitcase. "I do have a question. What is this short stick for?" She said, holding up the pen that had fallen out.

"That is just a pen" Will replied, noticing that his phone couldn't translate some of that. "You use it to write stuff down."

"So it functions the same as a pencil?" Eight asked

"Yup, but instead of coal, it uses ink" Will casually replied

Four, now standing in the door frame, ready to leave, froze. "So you did use ink!" She said, shocked.

Eight, having touched the tip of the pen, and now holding the finger she used in her mouth. "I can confirm that this stick indeed holds ink."

"Can I have it back now?" Will said, getting a bit grumpy looking at the clothing he still had to put back in his chest, not aware of what kind of shock he had caused.

"Allow me to assist you with collecting your belongings." Eight said to Will, as she handed him his pen and started to trow the clothing that was scattered around back into the chest.

"_So they also used ink. Could he have just wiped us all if he wanted to?" _Four thought to herself as she went outside where Two was talking to the captain as well as two others.

"Yo, You must be Four" The smaller of the two said to her, making everyone look at Four.

"You prob already know me" She continued. The tall person next to her let out a sigh.

Four just looked puzzled, as she tried to remember but couldn't think of anything with all that had already happened today.

"You are letting it get to your head again." The long figure said. "Her name is Pearl"

"And hers is Marina" Pearl said with a whining voice. "You know introductions are my thing."

"Everything is your thing." Marina added.

"So agent Four." The captain said. "Let me introduce you to agent Five and Six"

Four just stood silent. First an octoling, then a human, and now the amount of celebrity's had doubled. She now felt the urge to join Three in not caring about it, but knew that she had to house two of the three things that were now causing her to have a headache.

"Hellooooo, Earth to Four" Five screamed at Four.

"Maybe you should just show them" Two hinted to Four, who was still frozen in place.

"Show us what?" Five said like she wanted to claim whatever it was that she would be shown.

"Pearl, please" Six whispered to Five. "What is it that you want to show to us?" She then added for the rest to hear.

"It must be quite something for it to leave an agent in total shock." the captain said, looking at Four still standing as still as a statue. "What is ..." He continued and was cut of as Three, followed by One came around the stone arch.

"So, why are you here?" Three sneered at Five and Six, seemingly not amazed by their presence.

"We are going to be the backbone of future operations" Six said.

"As long as I can continue what I do best" Three grinned, while holding up her gun.

"What you're wearing?" Five screamed out, pointing at One, who was still wearing the large sweater.

"I don't really know" One said trying her best not to look like someone who had been accused of a crime. "But the owner is in there" as she pointed at the hut.

"So he has what you want to show us?" The captain asked.

"And who is this dude anyway?" Five followed up.

"Well… he is not really 'having'..." Two tried to explain to the captain.

"Just go inside and look, for carp sake" Three muttered.

"Yea, maybe I will..." Five said, trying to sound brave, but not moving a single muscle.

"Shall I go first?" Six softly whispered to Five, who made a tiny, almost unnoticeable nod.

They both moved past Four, who was still standing so still that she could have been mistaken for an art piece, but was now muttering to herself. The captain followed them, who in turn was followed by One and Two, as Three turned back around and started walking back to the training grounds.

As Six opened the door, they first saw Eight holding another of these over sized pieces of clothing. Next, noticed the human at the far side of the room, who had taken of his suit, revealing a simple shirt, a pair of shoes, and jeans. The captain stopped, looked at the human with his bulging eyes, as he now looked nearly identical to Four, who was still outside. Six bent over to Two and whispered something to her, getting a nod in response, while Five seemed to fly in a blind rage, and started to run towards the creature that was clearly at least twice as tall as her.

"This is for what you wanted to do!" she screeched at him while delivering a punch that hurt her hand more than his leg. She completely disregarded the phone in his pocket that was now repeating her.

Will picked her up by the collar and held her in front of him with a straight arm, like he was holding a bomb that could go of at any moment. Five just kept trying, and failing, to punch him.

"What is up with this one?" he asked, looking intrigued at Five's futile attempts to hurt him.

One, Two and Six started to giggle a little, resulting in the captain snapping out of his shock.

"What is so funny about his kind almost killing us all?" He snapped at them.

"If he would have wanted to kill us" Two said, slowly regaining her normal way of speaking. "He would have done so already."

"I can indeed confirm that he possess weaponry." Eight added as if she was reading a news report. "He for instance has a pencil that is filled with ink and armed with a sharp tip."

"And you let him into my shack?" the captain cried out in disbelief.

"This mess is my fault." One said, now not smiling anymore.

"But what do I do with this?" Will repeated, this time a bit louder, as he was holding Five, who was still trying her hardest to hit him.


	6. Traveling companions

Four still stood outside the hut, frozen in place, thoughts all clashing in her head, when the door behind her slammed open as Will came out, pushing his chest. Behind him Eight and One came through the door as well. Will drove the chest to just behind her.

"If you would like, you could sit down." He suggested, but there was no response.

"It might be beneficial for you to tell us what it is that is on your mind." Eight added. However, Four still didn't move or say anything.

Will looked questioning at Eight. "Maybe we shouldn't tell her yet."

"Agreed." Eight replied. Will tried to emulate her after he had gotten the translation form his phone, but came no further then almost immediately coughing.

"You will have to work on your speech." Eight said, after he had stopped coughing.

"Anyway..." One interrupted. "The platform is over there." She pointed to just behind the entrance kettle. "I'll head back now, before their serious talk completely kills the mood."

She turned around and added: "And Four, they'll notify you if they find something." as she now closed the door, leaving the three alone.

Will and Eight both looked at Four, trying to come up with a way to make her snap back to reality.

Suddenly, and without hesitation, Will walked up to Four, picked her up, and sat her down on the chest. Eight kept looking at Four and the moment she touched the chest she said: "If there is anything troubling in your thoughts that you cannot work out, you are allowed to share that with us."

Four stood up, took of her tank, and left it against the shacks wall together with the gun. She turned back around and said: "I may have a lot of questions for you two, and so do you I imagine. Let's discus them on our way to my apartment, because it is going to be a long walk."

* * *

The three were silent all throughout the ride on the platform. Will was curious about how the plate on which they stood seemed to hover as well as the small landmass that they had just stood on, but he didn't say anything until the platform came to a halt at the edge of the canyon.

"So… What's up with all the numbers for names?" He asked, trying to break through the silence.

"As agents we are assigned a number so our superior can more easily address us." Eight replied, like she was reading it out loud.

"So that means that you do have names, right?" He asked in the hopes of this being a start to getting to know these creatures a little better.

"The name is Mira." Four said. "Mira" she repeated, as she heard the phone give a buzzing noise. "We haven't properly introduced ourselves yet." She raised her hand in a clear indication of wanting to shake Will's.

"The name is Kimberly, or Kim for short." Eight said, awkwardly grabbing Four's hand, seemingly not to understand what to do after she had grabbed it.

"William" Will said resolutely, grabbing both Four as Eight's hand and shaking them while being so nervous that he made Kim fall over.

"_What is it with this human, he seemed so confident and now he is shaking like seaweed. He doesn't really seem like such a splatting turflord after all. Maybe he'll even like to ..." _Mira thought as she again locked up from stress. She'd normally keep cool when she had to make a tactical decision, but these social dilemmas just made her lock up.

Will apologized to Eight as he helped her up and asked: "So, who was the green one that kept staring at me? Three right?"

"thank you" Kim said. "That was indeed agent Three, also know as Lia."

The three started to make their way down a little sandy path that followed the canyons edge for a bit before taking a turn towards a city that lay in the distance. Will was pushing his chest, Eight was walking besides him, and Four now lay on the chest gazing at the sky.

"Do you have any hobbies?" Will tried in an attempt to continue the conversation.

"The usual." Mira said like it was obvious to Will. "Some turf war, shopping, doing some jobs for grizco, shopping, swimming and shooting exercise, shopping, cooking… Did I mention shopping?"

"You did, three times to be exact." Kim said with a straight face, while Will was just trying to comprehend what Four had just said, since ,even though his phone translated it, he didn't even understand half of it.

"I just like to play chess." He muttered as he was trying to imagine someone shooting weaponry whilst swimming.

"We did not have any opportunity to have free time activities." Eight said without any resentment. "And what are these things you called 'turf war' and 'chess' might I ask"

"I should have a board somewhere in this thing" Will said, tapping the box he was pushing.

Four shot up, something had just clicked in her mind. She turned to Will and said: "You don't happen to have a large hat in there, do you?"

"I think so, why?" He asked.

"Do you suspect rainfall?" Eight asked, looking up to judge the weather for herself.

"Just… just find something that can cover the top of your head." Mira sighed. " I am planning on taking you down to the plaza. Hopefully without causing a commotion along the way.

"What's wrong with my appearance?" Will screamed in frustration. He could handle most criticism, but his image towards others was something that he was quite proud of.

"Imagine the ruckus when something…, whatever it was that went extinct billions of years before you lived, suddenly came around a corner just stomping around."

"Dinosaurs?" He filled in, not sure if he should feel praised or offended.

"Sure, if that is what works for you." Four continued without really listening to him. "Just think of the kerfuffle you would cause. I mean, you belong in a museum."

"I'm not that old yet." Will replied.

"All I am saying is … that…" Mira mumbled. "What would you humans do if you found some extinct species walking around?"

He felt fear coming over him as he imagined a large scale of equally horrible outcomes for the poor sap that would walk into a different species hometown without a disguise.

"Anyway, we're almost at my apartment." Four said, as they now moved past the first few houses, that were soon followed by small flats. As the sun had now set, the streets were dark, cold, and, most importantly to Four, empty.


	7. Getting acquainted

Four unlocked the door and held it open as Will first pushed his chest, and then he came through, bumping his head against the doorpost . He grumbled and bend down to move under as he was follow by Eight, who in turn was followed by Mira, closing the door behind her and putting away her keys.

"It isn't much." Four stumbled. "But it's home."

To Will, it was just a regular apartment, although everything was quite small. The furniture seemed bigger in regards to the rest of the room, making the room feel a bit more cramped than it's sheer lack of size did. To Eight, it was breathtaking. All she was used to seeing were chambers that weren't even half the size of the living room, and those would already accommodate for up to four.

"You have all this space for yourself?" She gasped.

"I'm glad you like it." Four replied. "Let me show you around."

"And just leave your things next to the couch." She added, pointing at the side of the couch that took up most of the room. The living room also featured a single armchair, a coffee table, and a television screen that was attached to the wall. The room featured 2 doors, one being the main entrance, and an opening leading to the kitchen.

"First, there is the kitchen, can't miss it." Four said, pointing at it. "And behind the door are the bathroom, the guest bedroom, the cupboard, and my bedroom."

"You possess your own sanitary facility?" Eight cried out.

"If you're talking about the bathroom, the second door on the left." Mira answered, surprised by the feverish excitement for something as simple as an apartment.

"I don't know about you, but I could really use a meal before we go to bed for the night." She said after a few seconds of silence. "Any, suggestions?"

Will just shrugged, he had no idea of what these people even ate, let alone if he could eat it. Kim also was without words.

"I should still have some instant noodles somewhere..." Four mumbled to herself as she started to repeatedly open and close a few cabinets, filled a pot under the tap and turned on the stove. As she put three plastic cups on the kitchen top, she noticed that her guest had taken a sit on the couch, but were both completely silent. "_Why is it so silent? Are they waiting for me? Why can't they just have a conversation by __themselves__? It is quite eerie, __them just sitting there, waiting__."_

She found three forks, spread out over three different drawers. She boiled the noodles, drained the leftover fluid, added the little bag containing spices, and put in the forks, picked up the cups and turned around to see her quests still sitting still. _"Why can't they just talk like normal squids? At this rate, they are going to drive me insane before the end of the week."_ She looked out of the kitchen window, saw nothing more than darkness and a few lights form other windows, and let out an almost silent sigh.

They ate in silence. Both Will and Kim first studied the food in their cup and slowly put a few noodles in their mouth, before starting to eat like they hadn't eaten something (decent) in years. _"__At least they like it."_ Mira thought, as she ate her own noodles.

"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Four asked, realizing that both of them were new here and probably wouldn't depart from her side until they found their bearings.

"No, not as of yet." Will said.

"I haven't planned anything and was hoping you would show us around." Eight answered.

"Well.. I think we should first go out to get some clothing." Four said, looking at Kim's agent outfit. "I don't think that you would want to wear that every day."

"Why wouldn't I? This outfit is tailored to be suited for any combat situation." Eight replied, like she expected that she could be attacked at any moment.

"If we want to go the plaza, I think it is best for you two to blend in w..." Four stopped as she saw Eights expression. Her eyes were wide, showing a magnitude of fear Mira had never before witnessed.

"Do you think that some clothing can make me look like one of you?" Will's phone cut through the silence, while he had already put some more noodles into his mouth, clearly not aware of what had just happened.

"I think that we can find something that won't make you stick out as much." Four replied in hopes of continuing the conversation.

"As long as it isn't a mask, I don't like having my face covered." Will said.

"I do have some idea's." Four said with a ominous voice.

"And maybe you could help me with your language." He added, completely off-topic.

She didn't expect the sudden switch: "I guess.. I and Eight… could help you with that someday."

"Rather sooner that later." He replied. "It wouldn't really help me to not stand out if I need my phone to translate everything."

Eight let out a loud yawn, and as Four saw that the fear in her eyes had faded, she decided that it was indeed time for bed.

"I agree with Eight." She said. "Time for bed." She let out a yawn herself, as she was indeed quite tired after such a peculiar day.

"Your room is behind the second door on the right." Four added. "And Eight, you can lend some of my clothing for the time being."

She went to her bedroom, picked out some clothes for Eight to wear for tomorrow and some pajamas. However, when she went over to the guest bedroom, she found her asleep on the double bed, like she had let herself fall on it from the side, so she spanned almost the full width of the bed. Will just stood next to it, not knowing what to do. Four left the clothes next to the bed, muttered something about the sofa in the living room and an extra blanket under the guest bed, and headed to the bathroom.

As she went back to her bedroom, she saw Will trying to get comfortable on the sofa. She then entered her room, picked up her phone, and checked if there were any unread messages. Little did she, or anyone for that matter, know about what the events of this day had set in motion. All that Mira was concerned with when she went to sleep was the weather forecast for the next day that read: Rain.


	8. Patrol by moonlight

It was a cloudy night, but still the moonlight brightly illuminated the landscape. This landscape was bland, apart from an octarian army squad that was on it's patrol route at one of the far edges of the army's influence. The four octolings marched in a single row, with an elite in the front wielding a pair of duelies. Behind her were a blaster and a roller. The last one carried a charger.

"This place really gives me the creeps." The roller whispered to the blaster.

"I know, it looks like it could start raining at any moment." The blaster replied.

"And there are no respawn pads to cover this sector." The roller added.

"Will you two hold that gloomy attitude to yourselfs!" The elite shouted at them without turning to face them. "All that we have to do is make sure that no-one goes by our borders."

"Not that anyone ever comes by here." The blaster muttered.

"I can hear you Bea!" The elite said with a strict voice. "We are always expected to be at our best, alert at all moments, ready to..."

"There is a.." The roller interrupted her.

"Clara, what did I tell you about interrupting me?" she snapped at her.

"Over there, a..." Clara tried again.

The elite held her hand up and the group came to a halt.

"What did I tell you about interrupting me?" She forcefully asked again.

"We are never to interrupt you when you're is talking." The roller let out a sigh. "But if you would..."

"Now keep that inside of that inkfilled head of yours." The elite overruled her. "Now lets get moving again."

"Andrea?" The charger in the back said with a fain, high pitched voice.

"What is it?" The elite said, barely containing her anger.

"I have sighted a smoke plume over there." the charger said, using her free arm to point.

"Well then Devon, good observation. It seems that the night will not be as plain as some others where expecting it to be." She looked at the other two, who could both feel Andrea's gaze form behind her glasses. Clara, who had already opened her mouth to protest, closed it.

It was quite far uphill, and the group could see the steep side of the hill on the left slowly growing as they went higher. In the distance, they could make out the shimmering lights of their rivals home town. They all knew that they were now well outside of the area they had been assigned to, but none of them minded it, as all they could thing about was who could be so brave as to stroll out so close to octarian ground, and even had the courage to create large smoke plumes there.

As they approached the plumes, they could make out the light from a campfire. Sitting besides it was a long, slim, humanoid figure, poking the fire with what appeared to be a long stick, sharpened to function as a spear.

The elite held up her hand, and the group stopped.

"Clara, I want you to take cover behind the stone that our target is leaning against." She instructed.

"Bea, you take the rock between us and the target."

"Devon, you take position on the large boulder at the edge of the hill."

"I will take cover behind the bush next to Clara."

"Understood." The three replied.

"When everyone is ready and I give the signal, Bea will shoot out the fire, directly followed by a charged shot from Devon, and followed up by Clara landing her roller on the back of the target. And if the target is still standing, we three will all charge with Devon providing us support."

"Understood." The three replied again.

"Remember to stay alert. For all we know that is not the only intruder."

"But we aren't in..." Clara went in against her, but stopped as she could feel the piercing look of Andrea from behind her shades.

They all went to their assigned positions. Devon took the longest. Not only was she the newest addition to her squad, she was also not the greatest with a charger, or any weapon at all. She couldn't even wrap her head around how she passed qualification. She slowly moved over to the boulder that Andrea had send her to, as she tried to make the least amount of noise possible.

Devon reached the top of the rock and readied her weapon. She took note of the hillside behind her and reminded herself not to look down, as she couldn't bear the thought of dropping down the steep wall of dirt and rocks. She instead, to distract her from the gaping emptiness, focused her attention and aimed at the figure they were supposed to assault.

As she could now see the creature in the light of the fire, she noticed all the oddities. It was taller then the average inkling she had been described, but bared a striking resemblance in body shape. What made her question what it was, was the head, it didn't feature the tentacles which made these squids so distinct from most other species. Instead, it seemed like some sort of cloth, but when it moved, it flowed like it were loose strings.

Wondering what their target even was, she saw how the fire was suddenly put out by a well aimed shot form Bea's blaster, and knew that that was her queue to fire a shot. Devon was happy that she had already aimed, as she couldn't see a thing. She heard a scream as the shot connected, and then the recognizable sound of a roller hitting its target.

Devon kept staring at the source of the sounds, having readied a second shot, and as her vision slowly returned, she stood petrified. Their target was still standing, slightly bend over from the force of the roller that now lay on its shoulders. She fired the second shot, as requested. The shot connected, and caused another scream of pain as the target bent over just a bit further and put her hand on the spot that Devon had hit her.

What followed was something that could have only been described as horrific. Andrea, follow by Bea, charged at the target, connecting all their shots, but not seeming to do all that much damage. The target, which they presumed to be a she, swung at them with her makeshift spear, hitting Bea. Andrea dogged by quickly diving down into an inkpuddle at her feet and appearing again after the stick had moved over. The target jumped to the side as form her back Clara came down with another swing from her roller, missing her and making the elite having to jump out of the way not to get hit. The target was now standing to the side of her and jabbed the stick into the lower part of the elite's torso. Clara had a slight moment of fear make her stop dead in her tracks, which was all that their target needed to lunge at her. Clara being driven into the ground was the last that Devon saw of the slaughtering of her squad, as she flinched, slipped, and fell down the boulder and of the steep side of the hill.

Rolling down, she could feel how she hit a few rocks on her way down. She heard the noise of shattering glass and the screeching of metal and stone colliding as she came tumbling down. After what had seemed like an eternity the slope gently became more horizontal and she came to a halt laying on her side, as her inktank prevented her from laying on her back. As she looked up the hill, she could see the creature that they wanted to destroy looking down at her. She could feel ink flowing out of her tank, down her back and onto the floor around her as she slowly lost consciousness. The last thing Devon saw was the creature looking at her before slowly moving back out of view as it moved back to its extinguished campfire.


	9. Cold rain

A loud sound filled Four's bedroom, waking her up. She reached for her alarm clock that stood next to her bed, but the sound continued. Four pulled herself up and now sat in her bed, rubbing her eyes. She had no idea of what woke her up at first, but slowly her mind started to process everything and linked the sound to her phone. _"Who could be calling this early in the morning?"_ She couldn't recall any of her friends telling her that they woke up early. In fact, she was one of the first to call or message others, waking them in the process. She reached for her phone, missed twice, and then picked up without even checking the number.

"Who is th-_*yawn*_ this?" She asked, still not completely awake.

"The name's Lia." A firm voice answered her.

"Wait…. Who?" Four said, trying to hold back another yawn.

"I _Might_ have forgotten to properly introduce myself yesterday." Lia continued. "I figured we could get each other up to speed on what has happened recently."

"That's fine, I g-guess." Four maundered, desperately fighting the urge to fall back into her bed. "Where? When?"

"Do you remember kettle 7-5B?" Lia said like it was more of a statement then a question. "I am there now. So if you could just come over..."

"What are you even doing out there at this time of the day?" Mira replied.

"Half past five isn't that..." Lia began.

"That is still way before any normal squid would be up and awake." Four replied, her tiredness slowly being replaced by a mild frustration.

"Just come if you're interested." Lia sighed.

"Sure, but I'll have breakfast first." Four said resolutely and ended the conversation.

"_That you can be up and this hour and have the nerve to wake another squid. The nerve of some inkblots."_ She got dressed and went over to the bathroom. However, when she reached for her bedroom door, she heard a faint voice. It took her a bit to remind herself that there were quests in the apartment as well. Four slowly opened the door, silently went over to the door to the living room, and stuck her head out. Her television was turned on, and on the couch sat the human, wrapped in a blanket, watching it. Around him lay a few books he had pulled out of the cupboard. He was watching a kids show, featuring a jelly pointing at different pictures. He repeated after the voice over, trying to mimic the words as close as possible.

Four moved herself to the bathroom without making a sound. Went back into her bedroom, got herself dressed, and now stood in the hallway, debating if she should try to sneak by Will or speak to him before she left. _"How long has he even been up? Is it usual for humans to stay awake, or do they just not need that much sleep?"_ Her curiosity won, and she stepped into the living room.

"Good morning." She said. "Slept well?"

"Good morning too." He replied, barely understandable. "Good sleep?"

"Well yes, thank you." Mira replied, surprised by how quickly he had gotten the hang of speaking. "I am going out for a bit, just stay inside till I get back."

"You say rain yesterday." Will said, clearly not yet capable of producing sentences.

"Don't worry, I'll just take my umbrella." She said, walking over to the coat rack and picking her umbrella from one of the hooks. "You are doing good, keep at it."

"Thank you, I proud too." He was clearly happy to be complemented on his progress.

Four checked if she had her keys and phone with her, and moved out the door. On her way to the closed access point of the kettle network, she looked up to see a dark, gray sky that was clearly ready to unleash it's rainy terror upon the land. _"Why in your right mind would you go out now?"_ And she wasn't wrong, the streets were all empty.

That wasn't all that was empty, Four's stomach rumbled, and reminded her that she had forgotten to take some breakfast before leaving. _"I really should have eaten something before I left to see…, who was it again? They called way earlier that anyone that I know of, and they said something about yesterday. I should have made some notes. Why did anyone in their right mind call me so.."_ Her thoughts were pushed aside as she heard someone call out her name.

"Hey Mira!" A Purple squid with long, cut off tentacles screamed from the other side of the street.

Four looked up. She was certain that she knew the squid, but she couldn't remember who it was. The inkling walked up to her.

"Wouldn't have expected to see you here." She said.

"How come?" Mira answered, still trying to figure out who she was talking to.

"You have seen my new style, I thought it was time for a fresh new cut." She continued, clearly awaiting a compliment.

"Looks nice." Mira replied, clearly still not paying attention to the conversation.

"That's the nice thing about rain: No lines, no busy streets, no nothing." The squid resumed. "It's a shame that only a few jellies open up shop, otherwise I could be here all day."

Suddenly, something turned on a light inside Mira's mind, and she remembered who she was talking to.

"Listen, Maya. I am not in the mood for a conversation right now. We should catch up some other time, maybe grab something to eat."

"But what are you even doing out here?" Maya replied. "Almost all the clothing shops are closed y'know."

"I just needed a walk outside to clear my mind. With all that has happened lately."

"That monstrous statue was freaky, wasn't it?"

"_I should chose my words more carefully than this. If she finds out about anything else, the captain is going to fry me."_

Maya took her silence as a yes. "Well, I'll be on my way. Lets find out if there are any shoe stores that opened up."

Mira took of, waved at her friend, and continued on her way. It still baffled her, it hadn't been easy for her to conceal her agent identity, but her even her best friends didn't even seem to suspect anything, even though she had the idea that she had sometimes almost revealed everything by mistake. Now with her new guests she had to be more careful then ever. Her usual 'just see how everything goes' attitude didn't help her either. She was happy she didn't bump into anyone else on her way to the manhole. That happiness soon faded as she came out of kettle 7-5B and was greeted by the barrel of a splattershot.


	10. Precarious weather

The weapon was held by Three. They looked each other into their eyes and both stood still. Three's cold eyes conveyed a clear message: move and I pull the trigger. Even though Four and Three were the same size, Four felt small and insignificant. _"She looks down on me, who does she think she is? I did the same. I even saved Callie. But why does she feel so much stronger, like I know she could beat me in an instant?"_

Three lowered her weapon slightly and spoke: "So, that was a quick meal." Her earnest voice made it clear that she wasn't even attempting humor. Only now did Mira realize that she must have been who called.

"I have a few questions I want answered, and I suppose you do as well." She continued. "I propose that we take turns."

"A-alright..." Four stammered. Trying to figure out if she should speak to her as a friend or an high ranked officer.

"So… tell me. How are your quests doing?" Three said, while she now fully lowered her gun and started to walk down a small dirt path.

"Fine, I g-guess." Mira replied. "But why did you want to meet here, and with this weather?"

"I must confess that this place is near a route that octarian forces patrol. However, these trees provide more then enough cover if need be. They make for good targets as well. And the steep hillside at the edge of this small forested area is great for climbing. If you want, you could company me." This last sentence was mostly meant to get Four moving, since she didn't walk after Three, who had to stop and ask her to follow.

"But, how have you been yesterday?" Lia asked Mira, who was most definitely not expecting Three to be so friendly after how she behaved yesterday.

"Well… to be honest..." She let out a sigh. "It has all been a bit much. Not only did our team scale up significantly, I also have to house two… two…, you know what I mean."

"And here I thought that I was the one who needed a breather." Lia's mouth now showed a small grin. "If you are interested, I was planing on visiting a museum exhibition. Maybe you could take those two with you?" Lia suggested.

"But how do you think that I'll be able to disguise them?" Mira cried out. "Eight might be possible, but the human…."

"You will be amazed at how ignorant squids can be." Lia interrupted her. "Even if it looks remotely like what they want it to be, it isn't odd to them. They only see what they want to see and they try to avoid oddities. So just find a large hat or something, nothing flashy, and no-one will bat an eye."

Mira just stared at Lia for a solid few minutes. Slowly the sound of raindrops falling could be heard, and quickly became more and more apparent. Four opened her umbrella and shared it with Lia, who apparently had forgotten to take one with her. They turned around to walk back when they heard a faint sound of someone making a faint noise, like they were in pain. They both turned back around in unison, and Three raised her splattershot, ready for action.

They moved as quickly as sharing an umbrella allowed them to go. They soon found where the sound originated from. An octarian soldier lay besides a tree. The octoling was continuously morphing between her octoling and octopus form and sliding around under a few branches, trying desperately to stay dry. Both Three and Four noticed that she didn't have a weapon, and the tank she wore was cracked and empty. She hadn't yet seen or heard the two agents who were watching her from behind some shrubbery._ "It is at these times that I would gladly switch my life with that of any other squid in inkopolis. Why must all this happen all at once?"_

Four looked at Three, but her face was back to the emotionless determined face she saw when she met her at the kettle. She had however lowered her weapon and was watching every movement the octoling made.

"What are you pla..." Four was interrupted by Three.

"This soldier is clearly not on patrol. Something must have happened here." Three keenly noticed. "She is also without a weapon, and as the captain has told me: "There is no honor in defeating an unarmed opponent." That mentality is how he recruited Eight, and how we are going to approach that octoling."

Four didn't know what to expect from Three, but this wasn't like anything she would have guessed. To be fair, she hadn't questioned why Eight was recruited in the first place, since she figured that the captain had his reasons, but Three didn't seem like a squid to show mercy. _"Her behavior outside of duty hasn't been what I had expected. Lia and Three are __like __completely different squids. __I hope for this octarian that this is Lia.__"_

Three grabbed Mira by her arm and pulled her with her as she walked past the bush they had used to stay out of sight of the octoling. She kept her weapon lowered and moved with a steady pace. The octoling stopped erratically moving around, and took a stance with her back against the tree she tried to use to shelter herself from the rain. Her face showed a mingling of fear and pain. She flinched every time a raindrop fell onto her from the tree's leafs.

"We mean no harm." Three declared. "Please come with us."

Three slowed down, but still kept slowly approaching the soldier, that was now looking around for escape options with a face that now displayed terror. _"__If it were me holding a splattershot, I'd have shot by now, why doesn't Lia?"_

Three and Four kept slowly moving closer, and the octoling now kept staring at Three, or more specifically, her splattershot. The two now stood right in front of the soldier, who by now had an expression of fear that Four recognized as the face Eight had made the night before. _"She must be terrified. It looks like Three is toying with her. I have no idea what she is up to."_

Three took a step forward, turned around, and stood next to the octoling, leaning against the same tree. Four quickly followed her example, and now stood on the other side of the soldier, trying her best to hold the umbrella over the three of them. The octoling, completely demoralized, slowly let her back slide down the tree trunk and put her head to her knees.

"Just f-f-finish a-already" She cried, and started sobbing.


	11. Epiphany

Three now sat down next to the octoling. _"What is she up to? What does she want with __this__ soldier?"_ Three put her empty hand on the soldiers shoulder, and the sobbing stopped. It was only now that Four noticed that the octoling wasn't only missing a weapon, but also the iconic glasses she had seen all the others wear. Thinking back to these enemies she had already faced, this one now looked pathetic, sitting completely still, taken over by fear.

"You must be really scared right now." Three said with a voice that made it impossible to guess if she was trying to be nice or if she just wanted to rub it in. _"Very smooth Three, Very smooth."_

The octoling answered with a single word: "Why?" It sounded like she was held point blank, the sound of utter defeat. All Four could do was give a questioning look at Three, who didn't reply in any way._ "__Why do I feel sorry for this octarian?"_

"And… What are you doing so far from your base?" Three continued with a voice so neutral that she could have been mistaken for a robot.

"S-s-surving" The soldier muttered, slowly collecting herself, as she pieced together that they would at least keep her alive for as long as she would answer her captors questions.

"Don't you usually operate in groups?"

"Y-yes."

"So.. Where are the others?"

"Gone..." 

"How?"

Four still couldn't understand Three's reasoning behind all this. If they were to encounter any other octarians, she could probably easily take them, or use the kettle for an escape.

"I… I don't know… who..."

"What happened?"

Four felt like she had to step in, since she could feel raindrops slowly soaking the back of her jacket. "Maybe we should find somewhere dry." Three agreed.

Four stood back up, quickly followed by Four, who offered the octoling a hand. She hesitated for a moment, but took Three's hand and got up as well. The three started slowly making their way to the kettle.

"So, what did happen to the rest?" Four asked before Three could.

"Someone… no, something had set foot on the top of the hill over there." The octoling pointed. "We prepared an ambush that would have made short work of any enemy, apart from this one. It seemed to be hurt, but just kept going. I fell of the side of the hill and shattered my tank. I have no idea why it didn't come down here to finish me. When I awoke, it had started to rain, and then you found me."

"This something, could you describe it?" Three asked, still not showing any emotions.

"It looked just like us, but taller. It had a slim head and lacked tentacles. It instead had some sort of weird strings on its head."

Four looked at Three, she wanted to see if she also understood what this octarian was describing, but her face didn't say anything. _"How can one be so cold, so without emotion? Or am I just wrong and has she already dismissed my theory before I could even propose it?"_

The three slowly moved to the kettle, the slow pace due to them trying to all fit under a umbrella that was only meant for one. They arrived at the kettle in silence, like they were part of a funeral procession.

"Do you know how to travel by kettle?" Three asked the octoling.

"Y-yes, I do" She stammered.

The three when through the kettle and proceeded to slowly walk over to the captains cabin.

"What is this place?" The octoling aksed. "And w-what is in there?" as she pointed at the shack.

Three didn't respond, neither did Four. _"What even am I supposed to say, what will the captain think of us when we show up with her? What was Three thinking? __What was I thinking?__"_ Before she had time to comfort herself, the three reached the entrance and Three opened the door.

The cabin was almost empty, there was only someone sitting in the far corner, with her face almost inside of the screen of a laptop. The figure looked up and turned to the door to see who had entered. It was the newly appointed agent six. She saw the three but said nothing, she just looked at them.

"Hello… Six, was it?" Three asked.

"Yes, but you can call me Marina if you prefer." Six answered. "Who did you and Four bring in?"

"_She didn't seem to freaked out by any of this, but then again, why should she? Of all who could have been in here, she was probably the only one who would have stayed calm. Maybe Two as well. Wait.. we haven't even asked this octarians name"_

"We haven't asked you for your name yet, did we? Three asked the octoling soldier.

"You indeed have not yet asked me for my name. And if I may ask, who is your other captive?"

Four and Six giggled. Three kept a straight face.

"That is not a prisoner, she is a member of our team."

"The name is Marina, and who might you be?" Six followed.

"Devon, fourth member of squad lue-42." The octoling answered, still expecting this to be an interrogation.

Four couldn't hold herself any longer. "What is the meaning of this Three?" She said just not loud enough to be screaming.

"Like I said before, I am just doing like the captain advised me. We can get information out of this octoling, and maybe a new ally. Have you not wondered how he recruited Eight?"

Four didn't really know how to respond, to be fair, everything was to much. With all that had happened she couldn't bring herself to the most simple of tasks. She couldn't even recognize the song that now faintly played in the background. Luckily for her, Six, who had just put on the music, drove the conversation into a different direction.

"About that, I have been monitoring the kamabo facilities. There still seems to be activity down there."

"You mean the metro?"

"No, the facility itself. It is broadcasting, but more worrying is that it is receiving transmissions as well."

"And what did they say?"

"I have no clue, although it did sound similar to Seven. Maybe he might be able to understand it."

"Seven… You mean the human right?" Four asked.

"Haven't they told you?" Six replied. "He has been appointed as our seventh agent."

Fours eyes widened. She slowly let herself slide onto one of the chairs, next to Devon, who had already sat down and was humming along to the music. _"He is an agent, has the captain lost his mind?! How is he even supposed to use their weaponry, he wouldn't have any experience with any of them."_ All the others saw was Mira, sitting on a chair, softly mumbling to herself.

"So you think he can understand?" Four tried to continue her conversation with Six.

"I hope so. I don't think it would be a good idea to send you down there without knowing what is going on."

"Let me tell you, what I saw there was straight up terrifying. Laboratories filled with ooze and tentacles. They even had an entire production line of the green goop down there."

"seeing how much activity is still going on down there, it is most likely still active."

"But that tarphone thing was defeated, how could anything still work down there?"

Devon interrupted the two. "Wait… Are you talking about the rumored kamabo, the thing that abducted countless squads?"

"Tell us what you know." Three demanded.

"All I know are told to be no more then rumors, but it is said that some of the patrols send out to the deepest parts of the canyon never return not because of agents..." Three raised an eyebrow. "but because of a thing called kamabo. The only thing that supports this however, are a few posters scattered around the place were the abductions happen. The posters feature a single eye on a black background with the name kamabo written next to it."

"And do you believe that such a thing exists?" Three asked.

"I think it to be no more then a story to scare off weaklings. Although some think it to be a distraction, set up by the culprit to cover their tracks. Others think that it is just one of you agents that..." Devon stopped when Three slightly raised her splattershot and stared her straight into her eyes.

"Let me tell you now, the kamabo cooperation is real, and abductions are one of the least horrifying things that they have done."

"How do you know about any of this?" Devon asked, after swallowing away some of her fear.

"I've seen it. I've seen it all down there. They know no mercy, only the most unethical sciences, if it can even be called science at the point where they ended up."

"So you 'want' to go down there?"

"We will have to if we want to put a stop to whatever it is that they are doing. We will need all the help that we can get." Three looked over to Six. "If you would be so kind as to contact the captain. The sooner we can put and end to this, the better."


	12. Fulfilling requests

Four was on her way back to her apartment. She had had it with all the information that she had to digest. First she had to deal with newcomers, then she had to house them, after that the stunts of Three, and now it turned out she was most likely going into a place even Mira described as horrific. Al she wanted was to go home and lay down for a while, but she knew that the problems wouldn't go away that easily.

When she reached her apartment, she again had to remind herself that there would be guests inside the living room so that she wouldn't freak out. She was right, Eight and Seven sat at the table with a board that had little weird looking pillars on it. They were both staring at it and didn't seem to take note of her entry.

"Hi guys." She tried to get their attention. "What ya doing?"

Eight and Seven both turned around. Kim was clearly happy, while Will's face showed how much effort it took him to try and understand what she had just said.

"Hello Four." She was clearly having fun with whatever is was that they were doing. "Seven showed me this...'

"Kim, please use names here. No-one else can know about… Did you just call him 'seven'?"

"Hello Mira, W-wi-ll" It clearly took her a bit to pronounce his name. It was a miracle she could even do it at all. "...showed me this tactical presentation of two armies."

"chess." Will added in plain English.

"c-ch-e-sss" Eight repeated after him.

Four, stunned by the fact that the two had apparently been practicing each others language, stopped Eight before she could explain what they were looking at. "Did you know about him being appointed."

"Yes, I did. We decided not to tell you because of the state that you were in. I have not had the chance to talk to you yet today."

"you're right… I've been a bit overwhelmed by all this."

"Maybe it would be helpful for you to try and do everything that you usually do." Eight suggested.

"Just do like it's a regular day..." Four looked at her phone and her face lost some of its color. "Maya asked me to stop by Grizzco later today."

"Can we come with you? Eight asked. Will had apparently understood that she was going somewhere, as he was nodding slightly when Kim asked this.

"I guess I could take you along." She hesitated for a bit. "But we need to sort out a few things first."

"What is it that needs to be sorted?" Eight asked.

"You can't go out like this!"

"As I told you, I do not see why. This apparel..."

Mira interrupted her. "But haven't you seen what others… never mind. Just put on the clothes I gave you."

"You gave me two sets of apparel. Which pieces am I supposed to wear?"

"The soft ones are for when you go to sleep, the others for during the day." She explained. She could see on the look on her face that it took her a bit to understand. Will still seemed to have no idea what the two were talking about.

"If you get dressed, I'll find you two some hats." Four went over to her bedroom and started to rummage through her closet. She could never remember what she had put on all the shelves, so it was always a surprise to her if she found the clothing piece that was just right for the outfit she was assembling.

She had already picked a bucket hat for Eight, but it took her a while before she found something for Seven. Four eventually found a warm hat, it was an old beanie that featured extra straps on the sides to keep ones ears warm. She couldn't even remember why she had it, it didn't have any abilities. With the two hats in her hand, she went back to the living room, were Will still sat on the couch, murmuring to himself. _"__Eight must still be trying to change clothes."_

She handed the human the old hat, and he put it on. Mira took a step back and saw that it would at least do the trick of hiding the most obvious differences. She took another step back and bumped into Kim, who had finished changing her clothes, sort of. She was still wearing the same boots, but now wore a simple long sleeved, striped shirt.

"Is this good?" She asked Four.

"Doesn't look half bad." Mira replied. Will shrugged and she was curious if he understood, or if it was just an coincidence. Four handed Kim the hat that she still held in her hand.

"Do you think that we are ready to go?"

To the other two their surprise, Seven spoke. "B-but… ri...rai..n"

"The. Rain. Has. Stopped." Four pointed at the window, where it could be seen that it had been raining, due to drops still hanging on to the glass. However, it was clear that it had stopped.

* * *

"Where are we going again?" Kim asked as they made their way down the still wet streets.

"I'm going to do some jobs with a friend of mine. Maybe she'd like you to join as well."

They reached the square, that, even though it had just rained, was already swarmed by inklings eager to do ink some turf. One of them walked up to the three. "Hey Mira, there you are. So happy that that pesky rain stopped. Who are these two? I've never seen them around." She just kept going, not giving Four a chance to answer. "I'm sorry, were are my manners? The name's Maya, don't confuse me with Mira. Where are you from, are you family, friends, acquaintances?"

"They.. are… from… I… don't..." Mira muttered.

"We are colleagues form work." Kim filled in for her.

"Sure, sure. Just hope you are any good at collecting eggs." Four let out a sigh of relief. Maya was never the squid to ask to many questions.

The four walked over to the tower and took a left when they reached the entrance. To the left lay an alleyway on which stood a small building with a wide open front. On the inside stood a ton of television screens and the entire place looked like it hadn't been cleaned in ages. Mira and Maya went in, followed by Kim and Will. A voice greeted them. It came out of a radio shaped like a bear holding a fish in its mouth.

"Welcome back." Its voice beaming through the room.

"I see you brought two new soon to be employees. Let me give them the quick rundown."

Four and Maya both turned around to find that Kim and Seven had disappeared.

"Guess they weren't interested." Maya shrugged.

"I send them off to go through the training course." The voice explained.

"So Grizz, we just wait here until they are done?" Four asked.

"If you two squids want to team up with them, then yes."


	13. Boisterous waters

William and Kimberly found themselves on a small boat. It lay ashore of an island that was also small in size. It seemed bland, the only point of interest was a small metal construct in the middle and a few grates that had been put up as walkways between a few mounds. Both of them found themselves to now wear a rubber suit and identical large blue and white caps. They also wore a life buoy on their back.

"No slacking on my watch, get to the island." A voice barked out of the sound system aboard the ship. It appeared that no one sat in the cabin.

Kim understood what was said and quickly superjumped over to the island while Will was trying to pull open the door to the cabin. When he gave up and looked around, he was surprised to see that she was no longer inside the boat, but already stood on the island, next to what appeared to be a large net, held together by a few metal rings.

He looked out into the murky water and put his feet over the edge. He then slowly let himself down to find that the water reached all the way to his elbows, and that the suit wasn't the best at keeping it out. His legs and lower body could feel the water slowly seeping in, so he made his way to the shore as fast as he possibly could. Eight was already waiting at the basket, and seemed to thoroughly inspect the thing. She only noticed him when he tapped her on the back.

When she turned around both of them found that they now both held a weapon. They looked at each other with surprise and then took a look at the splattershots that had seemingly appeared out of thin air. The same voice as before could be heard.

"Your soon to be colleagues are waiting for you, so let me give you two a short rundown."

"This is a salmonid, a chum to be exact." The voice was accompanied by a splashing sound at the edge of the island. They both instinctively looked to see what had been the cause and found what appeared to be a fish that 'stood' on its tail and wielded a frying pan. It slowly slid towards them, leaving a dark green goop behind itself. It made some high pitched squeaky noises as it appeared to be going straight at Kim, who in turn was just staring at it.

"You need to shoot at them before they get you." The voice said with clear annoyance.

Eight lifted up her splattershot and pulled the trigger. The chum got a full load of orange ink over him, it was splatted in an instant. Will just stood in some sort of shock, looked at his gun, and tried to fire it, firing some orange ink at the floor.

"A boss salmonid is incoming." The voice said as is was this time accompanied by not only a splash, but also a distant horn.

They could clearly see what had come out of the water. It looked similar to a chum, but larger, wearing a robe, and most noticeable was that is seemed to glow like it was made out of gold. It was coming straight at Will at first, but seemed to simply go past him and head for Eight instead.

However, before it could get there, it got splatted. Seven still held up his splattershot and had a baffled look on his face. He had no idea what he was even hitting them with, nor why it made them dissolve if enough was applied. Even more surprising were the yellow glowing orbs that it had left behind.

"Collect the eggs in the basket." The voice called out.

Kim picked up an egg and threw it into the basket and Will followed her example, but before she could pick up the last egg, they heard another horn.

They expected to see another golden salmonid emerge from the water. It wasn't golden, nor did it look like the previous fish they had seen. Out of the water came what could only be described as a mesh of metal, an unlucky assembly that tried to resemble a face. It featured a simple moving jaw and two large lights for eyes. Behind it, a string of jerry cans sprayed the same green goop as the other salmonids had left behind. At the end of this sat a what appeared to be a chum with a mask, operating the device.

They both unloaded a barrage of ink onto the machine, but it seemed to bounce right off. It didn't take long for them to realize that they had to move out of the way to avoid the large face that was actively trying to crush them. Both moved aside and saw as the face easily turned to face Will and go after him. When he looked around, he saw that the rest of the machine seemed to follow the exact line the front had traveled. He also took note of the driver, who sat on the back of the contraption, and looked exposed.

It seemed that Eight had also realized that the salmonid on the back was most likely their way of shutting the machine down. She waited for it to pass by and then shot it. Not only did the salmonid get splatted, but the entire machine came to a halt whilst it started to fall apart, first the part where the salmonid had been, then the the part connected to that, the part connected to that, and it continued all the way to the face. It too fell apart and the remnants seemed to just disappear as if they had never been there. All that were left behind were more of those yellow eggs.

"Collect the eggs, there is one more inbound."

They swiftly collected the three eggs, but the one they left behind previously was nowhere to be seen. They didn't get all too much time to think about that however, another horn could be heard. The weird thing was that they couldn't hear a splashing sound that those fish made when coming out of the water.

"These Maws are tricky. Throw a bomb for them to guzzle."

Seven had no idea what the voice said and even Eight didn't know what it was talking about. He had no idea what they were facing now, if there even was something here. He saw how Kim was also looking around to see if something was coming their way.

It seemed calm and peaceful on the island. They could hear the wind blowing and the sun had finally broken through the layer of gray clouds. Together with the sound of the water slowly moving against the shores, it made for a calm and relaxing environment, if it weren't for the fact that both of them feared that there was still something out there to get them.

They looked at one another again in the hopes that the other would have seen something. One of them then indeed saw something. Unaware of what Kim had seen, Will looked surprised as she pulled a orange pyramid from her buoy and threw it at his feet. When he looked down, he understood why she had thrown something, between his feet lay a fishing bobber that was erratically moving.

Suddenly, he and the pyramid got pushed upward and Seven could see what he could have only described as some sort of shark attack. A large what looked to be a fish with a large mouth came up, it's mouth wide open. Before he fell down into it, he could hear the pyramid below him beep loudly before exploding into a large splash of orange inside the creatures mouth. Next that he saw was that the fish had dissolved like the other salmonids and left some of those eggs behind. He barely landed on his feet without falling over.

The two looked at one another, both knowing that they could not really understand one another. Will resorted to the only other way he knew to thank someone and took Kim into an embrace. Only now did he feel how cold these creatures felt. For her, it was quite the opposite, she put her arms around him. He felt like a warm beacon of hope to her. When the voice cut through the silence that had once again fallen, the both of them ignored it.

"That will be enough for you to get started."


	14. Planning ahead

"-and Jake finds that they still need to look out for her, but Jish finds that she is already old enough to make her own decisions. Only to result in them, of course, deciding to take her to a museum. That resulted in her running off. So they, or rather, Jake got out of his way to search her, only for Jish to-"

Mira had zoned out of the monologue that Maya was unloading over her. _"Why aren't they back yet?"_ She could usually bear to listen to the rambling of her friend, but she did worry about the two too much to keep her attention to her talking. _"If something happens to them, Marie is going to grill me."_

She looked at her phone, only to see that Agent Two had sent her a message, stating that they were expecting her, Seven and Eight at the captain's cabin as soon as possible. She looked up again, not only noticing that Maya had stopped talking, but also that Kim and Will had reappeared right where they previously disappeared. One would say that they were hugging, another would say that they were holding on to one another for dear life. Others would have called it an inner embrace.

Only now did Four see that the human wasn't as tall as he had at first seemed. It might have been the heavy suit or just that Pearl was that small, but she saw that he wasn't much taller than the octoling that he was clamping onto was.

"Thank you." Will said to Kim as he tried to let go, but found that Eight wasn't yet ready to loosen her grip.

He also now opened his eyes, only to find that they were back in the same place that they had been before they were somehow teleported to that boat, not to mention that his clothes had somehow changed back. When he looked around, he could see Four and her friend both staring at them.

"Are they… ye know… a couple?"

Four didn't even look at Maya, she had no idea what was happening and the situation made her lock up again. Luckily for her, Will slowly inched his way over to her with Kim still trying her best to cling to him and refusing to open her eyes. Seven put his hands on Mira's shoulders, Maya grabbed one of her arms and together they started to softly shake her. She snapped out of her daze and looked at the human and the octoling that still desperately tried to hold on to him, then to Maya.

"You were gone again." Maya said.

"We have to go."

"But Mira, we were going to do a…"

"Work." She resolutely said. Knowing that if she didn't cut her off, she would have started another monologue.

She walked out onto the square, followed by Seven, who, after having tried to move a few more steps and not coming as far as he had liked, had picked up Eight like a groom would have picked up his bride. He walked after Four and received many weird looks, but since Mira didn't even look back to see if they were following her, he just kept going so he could keep up.

_"Why would they need me again? What could they have found in such a short time span?"_ She then reminded herself that she was also supposed to bring her two guests along as well. When she turned around, she saw that Will was carrying a now sleeping Eight in his arms, seemingly without any effort.

She kept going, deep in her thoughts, as she had no idea how to explain her sudden departure to Maya this time, nor how she would need to make it up to her this time. _"Maybe I could work a few shifts with her this evening. Or maybe ask Three if she could join us on that museum trip she told me about."_

When they reached the platform outside the city, Seven put the octoling down on it's hard, metal surface and started to slowly shake her awake. He lifted one of her tentacles and tried to wake her by calling out 'Eight' into her ear, but there seemed to be no response at first. It was when Mira had looked over and wanted to tell Will to let go of Kim's tentacle that she slowly opened her eyes again, blinking a few times against the afternoon sun.

Four had expected her not to be pleased with Seven holding her tentacle in his hand, most definitely because he was now poking another finger into it as well. Mira could however understand his curiosity and that he most likely had no idea how inappropriate it was to even touch someone's tentacles, let alone hold them. What she didn't expect was for her to smile and put a hand on his head, going through what she believed to be the same stuff that Jud was covered with. _"Wasn't that called fur? Or was it called hair?"_

Kim sat upright and blinked again a few times before standing up.

"When did I get here?" She asked the two. Making Will grab his phone again.

"Marie texted me." Four explained to her, seeing as Seven didn't have the translator up yet. "We are expected for a meeting or something."

"Why?

"Dunno. Maybe they found something new. I was just told to get us over there, so yeah…"

They stood silent for a bit, the only noise coming from Will fiddling with his phone. When he got it to work, that noise disappeared, leaving the three in almost complete silence. They could hear a ruckus coming from the island that they were slowly approaching.

As they stepped off the platform, Four immediately noticed who she assumed to be Devon sitting against a small rock. What made her unsure were one of Callie's old, broken Hypnoshades that she was wearing.

"You go inside, I'll be there in a bit." Mira told the two, who didn't seem to think anything of it and went straight for the shack, the noise temporarily being louder because of them opening and then closing the door.

Four slowly walked towards Devon, who seemed to mumbling to herself but for the rest sat perfectly still. _"What must have happened when I was gone. I only get stuck like this when everything happens too quickly, so what must have happened here to get her to this state?"_

She sat down next to her, but still seemed to be unnoticed.

"Devon?" She tried to get her attention without startling her. "If there is something that you.."

She didn't finish as she got punched from the side. "Wha…"

"S-sorry..." Devon followed up with. "I did not expect you there…"

Mira knew that she normally wasn't the best at these social situations and just hoped that a blunt, straight to the point approach would work just as well. She knew it usually didn't.

"So, why are you sitting here like this?"

"It is all just so much to take in." She answered, letting Mira know that her crude method had most likely worked.

"What has been?"

"You, them, everything. After what happened last night, I have never felt so free, so alive."

"What even happened before we found you? Why were you even out there? And what do you mean by 'free'?" She really had to hold herself back more, she was just as good as asking questions as Maya was at answering them. Luckily for her, Devon didn't seem to mind.

"We were out there doing the regular border patrol. We were almost at the halfway mark when we spotted a smoke plume emerging from a nearby hill. Even though it lay further from our patrol area than that we had to clear, our squad leader decided to take care of whatever had dared to come as close as it had done. We then went over and got into position to…"

"Who are the 'we' you keep talking about?"

"Our squad, lue-42, consisted of four members. Our squad leader Andrea, her left and right hand Clara and Bea, and then I was the new one to complete the group. It is standard procedure to assign new soldiers to squads to get them up to speed."

"And what happened next?"

"We took the by our leader assigned positions and ambushed. However, our target seemed to be able to take our ink without being harmed."

"And what was this target?"

"I-I don't know." Devon stammered. "It was large for an inkling. The most peculiar was that the target did not seem to have tentacles. It however featured long, yellow, thin strands on its head. We assumed that, since it did resemble the same humanoid shape, it was a female."

Mira thought about this for a bit and felt how Devon put her head on her shoulder. She had no idea how to comfort the octoling, and thus decided to let her lay on it to see if that would be enough for now.

"And did this 'thing' have a small head for its size?" Four eventually asked after she had put a few things together.

"Now that you mention this, the target's head did seem abnormally small for the length that it had."

"And what happened to the rest of your group?" She now asked, hoping to get her mind off this 'target'.

"They… they… they are gone…"

"How come?" Four tried to put on her best 'I care for your loss' expression and voice, hoping it would calm Devon.

"When we attacked, the target possessed a makeshift wooden spear." She could feel the octoling tremble in fear. "It stabbed our leader and knocked out the other two members. I fell down the hillside and broke my weapon and inktank. I could see the target look at me from the top of the hill and left me to die in my own spoiled ink."

Four could now hear how she was sobbing and hoped that she was doing the right thing by giving her a hopefully comforting hug. When she took Devon in her arms, she could feel just how much she was shaking.

"There, there." Mira whispered to her as she let one hand slowly stroke down her back, which was not that easy because of the metal reinforcements on her clothing. "Have you told the rest about this yet?"

"N-no." Mira could feel tears on her shoulder. "Do you think I should?"

"Yes."

"Th-thank you." She let go of Four and looked at her, or at least, Four assumed she did, since she couldn't see her eyes with those hypnoshades in the way. "Thank you for being so direct to me."

Four just stood there for a moment again, not knowing how to reply. Not only did Devon like her direct approach, it seemed to have helped her too. All she could come up with was to go and tell the rest what she had just been told.

"Let's go and tell the rest." She got up and made a few steps towards the shack, that had surprisingly calmed down since their arrival.

Devon stood up as well and gave a slight, formal nod before following her to the door.

When the two looked through the now opened door, they at first saw nothing that was out of the ordinary. Will stood next to Marina, who still sat behind her laptop that didn't seem to have moved an inch since she was last here. At one end of the table, the captain was discussing something with One and Five _"most likely something music related."_, and at the other side, Marie and Three were discussing over something while Eight stood by, just listening in from a short distance.

Seeing most of the agents fully suited up made Four think that she should do that too. First she wanted to check with someone on what the plans were for whatever it was that they would be doing. It also had to be noted that Devon seemed to try and follow Four like some sort of bodyguard.

When Mira walked up to Lia and Two, the two of them stopped talking and turned to her, only for Marie to turn back around and walk off to the three at the other end of the table. Three made an angry hissing sound towards her and then looked at Four and Devon.

"You tell her that some octolings aren't half bad and she just loses it, the nerve of some people!"

"Kim and Will aren't that bad to have around, they are…"

"Don't get me started on humans!" Three suddenly directed her anger towards Mira.

_"What's with the sudden mood shift?"_

"Don't get me started on humans and their mess of a corporation that they made!" She repeated and added.

"Something else then..." Four tried to calm her down before she'd unleash the build up anger against her and Marie. "Any idea why we had to be here at once, for the second time today?"

Three took a deep breath, took another, and continued in a more calm manner. "Marina wanted to have a word with the _human_, and have a look at that device he was using. Next to that is that we wanted to let the new field agents try out some weapons and get cracking on their armor."

"Don't we have some spare armor that they could use?" Four walked over to the wall of the room that had a few boxes lined up against it. She stopped for the one containing an abundance of armor vests that mostly consisted of different shades of yellow.

"I don't think that the _human_ could fit into one of those." She again used the word 'human' with a clear disdain.

Four looked into the box and almost immediately noticed a vest she hadn't seen before. She picked it up and showed it to Three. "How about this one?"

The vest in question was way thinner than the others and didn't have any sleeves. It also lacked any protective layer under it. Now that she took another look at it, it seemed to not even be a suit at all, more of a simple vest that one could put over their clothes.

"Did it not belong there?" Eight jumped into the conversation as she stepped out of the corner of the room. Getting her to receive confused looks from both agents. How Devon thought about it was hidden by the shades she wore.

"I put it there when I was putting Will's clothing back into his box. I thought that it had fallen out of that crate, since it looked so similar."

"Maybe the cap'n can make something of it." Three noted. "You should see him sew together a toy zapfish, he'll be done in no time."

She signaled to Eight to pick the vest and follow her, and to Fours surprise, Kim did as she was ordered and took the vest out of her hands, walking after Three like Devon was following her. _"Maybe that is just something they are used to?"_ Mira didn't notice that the octoling behind her had taken a step forward and was startled when she started to talk to her from right behind.

"That Three must be a skilled warrior to earn the respect from an elite octoling."

Four didn't reply at first, it took her a little while to realise what was out of place.

"How do you know that Eight is an elite?"

"That is clear to see, Octarian soldiers and elites are ordered to wear standard apparel…."

_"Most likely she is referring to what she's wearing now. How could they ever think that to be equipment suited for battle, there is so little protection from ink."_

"... as to where the Octoling elites get handed apparel that is hand tailored to every specific wearer. It is always an honor to serve an octoling, as there aren't many that take up combat rolls." She looked over and pointed towards Marina and Will that now both were looking at the little screen of Six' laptop. "Most of the octolings in the army are employed in sections like engineering."

Four tried to take everything in, but had trouble placing it all. She couldn't deny the striking resemblance Devon's talking had to that of Maya, but the octoling was somehow more interesting to listen too. Her voice didn't shift, even when she was crying on her shoulder, it was the same, calm voice, that somehow never failed to hold your attention.

"Octarian elites are usually ranked below octolings, although there have been cases where…"

She was wrong, Devon couldn't hold her attention. That might however have been because she was thinking about Maya again. She still owned her an explanation, or at least an excuse and something to make up for it. Maybe she could drop the two off at her apartment and meet up with her for some turf war before the tower would close.

"...it all comes down to performance. It is that the few octolings that do enter are exceptional in not only combat, but also with skills that are required for special units, which makes them a rare sight in regular squads." Devon stopped. She seemed to wait on what Four would do.

Mira, not sure if she wanted to even talk to anyone, decided to get a better look at what Six and Seven were doing, since it involved less people. She could hear the octoling walking after her. _"Does she see me as her superior or something? She stands in a pose like she expects to be shouted at by a high placed officer. Why doesn't she just do something on her own? Compared to this, those two are not as bad. This just creeps me out."_

She walked over to the two. They both had their backs turned to her, but both turned around as she cleared her throat. She could see that Six had clearly stayed up late and was trying to hold back the urge to just collapse and sleep.

"Hey Four and… sorry, what was your name again?" Marina started.

It seemed to take the soldier a little bit longer than usual before speaking up. "Devon, ma'am."

Marina chuckled. "I forgot, you can call me Marina." She held up her hand for a handshake. "Now just grab my hand and shake it." Six told it like she was explaining it to a little child.

Devon took the hand with one of her own and conservatively shook it.

"You'll get used to such things."

"Wait.. Marina, you aren't gonna tell me I have to house her as well?" Four asked as she realised that she meant that Devon would need to integrate.

"Seven told me you still have a fine couch and extra blanket. And besides, It's temporary anyways."

"A couch was one of those long, soft chairs, wasn't it?" Devon interrupted the two. Mira gave her a concerned look, while Marina just nodded to confirm what she had said. _"Do octarians and octolings never use things like pens and couches?"_ Will just stood by, clearly concentrating on trying to listen and understand any of what was being said. He gave Six a tap on her shoulder.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot, try these on for a moment." She handed Four a headpiece that she had clearly been tampering with. Mira didn't even hesitate, the quicker she did this, the sooner she could get the situation with Maya sorted out.

"Now try the switch next to the one for the communicator."

Four knew that there was only one switch there, but tried anyway, and indeed found an extra switch next to what she thought was the only one there. She turned it on and waited for something to happen.

Nothing seemed to happen. She could still hear how Callie was making fun of Pearl and the captain who had just tried to hold another rap battle, before having had Three intervene. She saw how now it was Marina's turn to poke Will, who seemed to snap out of some daze and looked up at Mira while spouting some gibberish that was most likely his own language.

She was surprised when she could hear his voice immediately being followed by a robotic one that spoke: "You should be able to understand me now, don't you?"

It took her a bit to realise that she had just heard a translation of what Seven had said. As a reply, she just nodded.

"He has a headpiece too." Six said, followed by Seven lifting one of the pads of his ear to reveal what used to be a headpiece, but had been cut off to easier fit under the pads of his hat. _"I still wonder how such small ears can pick up just as much sound as __ours__ can."_

Four took off the headpiece and handed it back to Six, gave her a quick compliment on her work and turned around to walk over to the group at the table to ask if they needed anything from her before she would head back. She however almost immediately had to stop as not to walk straight into Devon, who was, despite the shades masking her eyes, clearly staring at Will.

"Devon, what is it?" She asked.

"That… him…" Devon muttered. "He looks exactly like the target…" _"oh no"_

She started speaking to Will. "You, you…." She erupted in what Mira could only assume was octarian cursing. She understood none of it, but seeing Marina's, and soon after Will's face showed pure disdain made it clear that they understood.

Four let her go on for a little longer. However, it seemed that her stream of insults wasn't going to end any time soon. _"If she follows me like I am her superior, maybe she would…"_

"Devon!" Four called out just loud enough to be heard over the swearing octoling that had already drawn the attention of the people at the tablet.

She immediately stopped and turned to her, straightening her back and pushing her legs against one another like a soldier ready to salute. "Sorry ma'am. It won't happen again." _"So that worked…"_

Four turned to the group at the table. _"Now is just as good a time as any."_

"Do you need me for anything, or can I go again?"

"We still need you to be here for them to try out new weapons." Three answered. "I already told you."

"But what do you 'need' me for then?"

"They'll need a target." One said, with a mischievous smile on her face.

* * *

**Author****s**** note:** Going to keep this short as not to keep this to long and fill up the word count with non story text [mission failed]. Anyway, as you might have noticed, this chapter was longer than the previous, and I intend to stick to longer chapters from now on. I do hope to upload with less then a month in between, but no promises apart from that I do want to take this story to a conclusion one day. Next just a short note on the acquisition of a beta reader, thanks to _ZygardeFusion_ for being willing to read through my stuff. As another short note, he has asked me to inform you that they are accepting 'beta reader work' as they put it [end of promotion intermission]. Thank you for you patience and sit tight for an even larger chapter that is already in the works as I type this. May your day be a good one.


	15. Training your cover

**Author****s**** note:** So... Less then a month turned out to be over two in the end. At least I am still keeping this alive, so no worries about that. Perhaps if I don't promise you anything, the next chapter can be out in a more reasonable time span. Sorry for the wait, and as last time, may your day be a good one.

* * *

Three had led Seven and Eight out to the training dummies and Four had put on her suit and followed after, herself followed by Devon. _"How did they go from seeing one another as ruthless killers to accepting one another?"_ Mira just couldn't wrap her head around the fact that not only did Three seem way more friendly that Marie had made her out to be, but also that somehow an octarian soldier could go from fearing them to acting like she was her superior. _"Maybe that is just a coping mechanism for her."_

The group of six, consisting of the captain and Three in the front, followed by Seven and Eight, with Mira and Devon trailing behind, made their way over to a small open area that had a few balloons set up. Only now did Four realise that she hadn't seen Octavio, nor the snowglobe that imprisoned him, anywhere.

"Captain. Where have you put Octavio?"

The captain didn't even bother to turn around. "I've hidden him from -" He was cut off by the octoling in the back.

"You are keeping Octavio prisoner here?!" Devon cried out.

"Well… that..." The captain continued.

"So it is true? Why did you only capture him instead of taking his life?"

"We go back… I have my reasons." Even Four could see how he was reminiscing his past.

"Then what are tho-"

"Enough!" Four snapped at her. _"At least she listens to that, quite sad actually."_

The six reached the open area and Three immediately went over to a large wooden crate that stood to the side of one of the balloons. She pointed at the ink tanks that lied next to it, and somehow Eight translated that gesture into an order to distribute the tanks to the five of them. The captain didn't join in, he instead went to sit down on a small rock to watch them go at it.

Four almost failed to catch the duelies that were thrown at her. Hadn't it been for her looking to see why Three had bent over to react to the bottom of the crate, she would have most likely been hit on the head instead.

"What do you two want to try out first?" They could hear the voice coming out of the box.

"I think that I will first try out a blaster." Eight answered her. She had to quickly hand Devon the ink tank that she was holding so she could catch the blaster that now flew into her general direction.

"And the red one in the back?"

"A charger, ma'am." Devon answered in the same fashion she had talked to Four before. She now got a charger flung at her like a dart, making her have to jump out of the way to not get hit.

"A bit more care please." The captain shouted from his comfortable rock. "Because they're now in mainstream production doesn't mean I could buy a new one because you felt like throwing them around willy nilly."

Three didn't reply. She instead popped back out of the box with her old hero shot and put on an ink tank herself.

"T-Th-Three?" Seven stuttered. However, Lia ignored him. It seemed he had trouble with his inktank, since he hadn't put it on his back.

Four walked over to see what the problem was. She could see that Three clearly didn't bother to check, as she was now watching Eight unload blaster shots on the balloons and dummies, each and every shot making a loud, distinct 'Bang' whenever it hit directly or exploded mid-air.

"What's the problem?"

"...are…empty…" He stammered, pointing at the inktank. "and… no... w-wa…" He gave up on what she assumed to be the word weapon as he instead made little finger guns to indicate what he meant.

Mira took the tank in her hands and made it start to fill up with her yellow ink. She handed him the tank and walked over to the crate that Three had left unattended.

"What weapon would you like?" But all she got as a reply was him shrugging his shoulders as he came walking over to have a look for himself.

Will started to pull out weapons one by one, holding them in his hands for a bit before putting them back. Mira left him be and only now noticed that Devon wasn't right behind her anymore. _"I should be relieved, but I fear that it can only be the foretell of something bad."_

She saw the octoling standing still next to where she had had to dodge the charger that she was now holding in her hands. The weapon was being turned around continuously by the nervous soldier. Four walked over to she what was bothering her.

"What's the matter?" She asked, startling her.

"N-nothing, ma'am." The answer followed by the Octoling pulling herself straight and firmly grasping her weapon, albeit with her left hand at the trigger, which struck Four as odd.

"Do you always hold it with your left hand?"

"I'm sorry ma'am." Devon turned the charger around.

"No no no." Mira tried to excuse herself. "If you always use your left hand to fire, that is fine."

"But one is supposed to always hold their weapon on their right side."

Four let out a sigh. "It's not important how you handle the weapon, what's important are the results." She could see in the corner of her eye how Seven had picked a roller and was now repeatedly pushing it against a dummy without flinging or rolling it. She couldn't help but chuckle.

"But what were you thinking 'bout?"

"Well… It's that… how can I say this?..." She left off with a pause before finding the right words for what was troubling her.

"You found me, alone and without a weapon, but instead of splatting me, you took me here and even gave me a weapon again. Why would you think that I would not just shoot you and run off?"

Four couldn't help but smile at what she had just heard, almost breaking out in laughter. "Did you think that you could take on all of us? With a charger?" She let one of her dualies spin around her finger. "I have no clue as to why Three didn't just do what we would usually do, but you're here now. I've had a lot on my mind as well, and take it from me, just roll with it."

Both stood there, the silence being pierced by the blaster explosions and slight thuds that could be heard every time the roller was pushing into something. Four couldn't see behind the shades that Devon was wearing, but she could almost feel the octoling looking right at her.

Devon suddenly shot forward as she dropped the charger and took Mira into an embrace, making her drop one of her dualies.

"Thank you…" She muttered into her ear. "You are the kindest superior I have ever served." _"So I am an officer to her then…"_

Fours train of thought was brought to a halt by the captain yelling at them.

"Great that the two of you are getting along, but we're here for training, not a tea party!" The captain shouted as he had looked at why he could hear weapons falling on the ground again.

Devon let go of Mira, picked up the dualie and handed it to Four before she even had the chance to bent over to pick it up herself.

"Sorry ma'am." Devon bowed to her. "It will not happen again."

"Please don't excuse yourself for your feelings." Mira knew that that was not always the right thing to do, but the octoling brought it to a whole new level of ridiculous.

"Sorry ma'am." She said again. "Does she think she always has to speak to me like that?"

Four thought it would be better if she changed the subject.

"What's with the shades? Why are you wearing a pair of Callie's old broken ones?"

"I have been told to always wear one." She explained. "It feels weird not to wear them. Next to that is all the sunlight here on the surface. It is much more bright than down in Octo Valley, one could say it is almost blinding."

Four couldn't tell if she was slowly breaking up, not that she was good in that anyway. What made it even harder was that Devon seemed to be excellent at retaining a calm manner of speech, even when she was crying. Mira thought it would be best to change the subject again, before she fell victim to another one of Devon's emotional outbursts.

"Now you have your charger, I'd suggest you take aim at some of those targets. I'll be over there helping Seven if you need me."

"Yes ma'am." Devon replied, picking the charger back up and taking aim while holding the trigger with her left hand, showing how she had understood what Mira had told her.

Mira walked over to Will, who seemed to have discovered that one could indeed use a roller to roll over the ground, thereby covering it in ink. It took her a little bit to see that he was periodically shaking his torso, like he was shivering.

"Why are you shaking like that?"

"To feel… amount…" He replied in a manner that was already way better than it had been that morning.

It now was her turn to take a bit of time before understanding what was going on. She then realised what he meant: the inktank on his back. He was shaking it to guess the amount of ink that was in it. _"So humans cannot gauge ink tanks when wearing them."_ It was something most inklings could do without even thinking about it, like feeling what temperature it is outside, or estimating the time one had before becoming hungry again. _"Speaking about food, I'm starving. I hadn't had breakfast and it is already past lunch time. Guess I'll grab something to eat on my way home."_

* * *

They had been busting targets for a good half an hour now. The captain had already walked off and they hadn't seen the others since they left the cabin. Seeing how the sun was clearly past high noon and now heading for the horizon again, Four decided that it was enough for today, as she had gotten tired and even hungier from having to not only refill her, but also Will's tank. She had also joined target practice like Three had done after having told Eight what to do. Not that the two needed it, the targets didn't stand a chance. In hindsight she should have just submerged to refill her tank, but all the standing still made limbs feel stiff.

Four walked over to the weapons crate, dropped her dualies in it, and took off and emptied her inktank, readying it for another use. She looked over to see that Will and Devon had followed her example, although Seven seemed to struggle with turning off and emptying his tank. He was fiddling around with the lid and somehow found a way to mess it up so badly that he instead created a splat bomb. He looked surprised at first, but somehow seemed to already know what it was that he was holding, since he threw it towards one of the dummies, covering it with the yellow explosion of ink.

"So that be how she did." He mumbled to himself before finally finding how to open the tank and drain it. Four quickly took the tank from him and did the same as she had done to hers._ "These tanks are great and all, but it isn't '___that'___ hard to figure them out, right?"_

Three and Eight now also came walking over. Kim took of her tank and put away her weapon like the rest, but Three just seemed to want to announce something before continuing her training. _"How can someone enjoy standing still for so long? At least do some other practice as well to at least keep it interesting."_

"This will have to do." Three stated. "Tomorrow afternoon we will be investigating the point that Devon described as the place where many seem to disappear." She looked at the rest, staring at each one before continuing to the next, seemingly skipping Will.

They stood in silence, waiting for her to continue.

Three let out what could have been described as a sigh as much as a grunt. "That's all, now get lost!"

Four turned around and saw how Devon saluted Three. She walked over back to the shack and doffed her suit that she had for the time being just put over her regular clothing to save on time by not having to change. She had to correct herself when she wanted to not use the platform but the kettle connected to the manhole. Not only was it a force of habit, but she was also almost lost in her own thoughts. So much so that she didn't even look back to see if Seven and Eight had followed her, just assuming they did because of the footsteps that she had heard behind her.

_"So, let's set this straight. These two days so far have been a real rollercoaster. Not only did we get a human at our door, we got a bunch of new members for our team, not to mention that wretched statue and the company that is housed inside. Three did clearly state that it was a place to surpass nightmares._

_This Three, or Lia as she is called if I recall correctly, Marie always told me she was cold, but she seemed beyond cold. Heck, even a leftover ink splatter showed more emotions that she did. Although it did seem that she was capable of them, or at least act them out. When they found Devon, she seemed like a completely different squid. Was that all just for show, to get the octoling to calm down?_

_And then about octolings, there was Eight, or Kim… Can't remember her full name, should ask her that again. She seemed completely different from the octarian soldier. And she seemed to know, together with Three and the Captain, what had happened in that stone behemoth. Since I won't be getting any answers from Three, maybe I could ask her._

_Then there were Marina and Pearl, they seemed to know more about that place too. I couldn't really understand any of what they had to say. I couldn't even figure out if they were friends or if Marina was Pearl's guardian or something. Maybe I should advice Marina to get some sleep though, it seemed like she had been up all of last night._

_Just like the human… I really should stop calling him that, it's denigrating. Will… something. I'm not the best with long names, should ask him too sometime. At least he can understand us now with that custom headpiece. I should have asked Marina if I could have kept that one, Will's vocabulary is still severely lacking, although I find it most impressive that he has managed to even speak at all, since I only hurt my throat when I try to only imitate his language. Makes me wonder if he can hear the difference between an Inkling and Octoling speaking, I can barely notice it at times, so he most likely can't. Still got the feeling that he might surprise us one day though._

_Speaking of surprising people, Callie had really been going at it the last few days. That mischievous, almost villainous look in her eyes was never the messenger of good news. She meant no harm, but she could be a bit clumsy at times." _Only thinking that last part made Four's foot act up again._ "How does Marie even put up with her?_

_Marie had been acting weird the last two days, or at least, different from usual. Her normally calm demeanor had made way for some sort of disdain, maybe even resentment. She seemed cross with Three as well, and she didn't seem happy either. What had come in between them?_

_Maybe it had been when Three had brought in Devon. Why she had done that is a complete mystery to me. It didn't seem like anything such a squid would do. Maybe there was something about this specific octarian that made her do this. Maybe because she could feel, or did they all have feelings behind those shades._

_Did I take down actual people? I usually just assumed to be mindless drones. It had to be said that Devon seemed completely overwhelmed by not having those shades on, so maybe they were nothing more than drones when wearing them."_

Four shook her head trying to stop thinking about it. She noticed how, when the platform had reached the edge she had walked straight for her apartment. She could hear footsteps behind her, confirming that they were following. _"I guess we'll drop by my place first. At least I can freshen up before we're going dining."_

* * *

The roads seemed devoid of any life. Mira knew that most of the people in her neighborhood were turf war players, so they would all be found in the center of the city at this time of day, but somehow, this area always seemed eerie when it was empty.

She went up the stairwell, which was a lot easier when no one had to pull large boxes up them. Again, footsteps behind her confirmed that her guests were tagging along.

Mira opened her apartments front door, and heard it close behind her as she went into the kitchen. She took a bottle of Salmon Lime out of the fridge and went to the cupboard to get a glass. She could hear her guests sit down in the living room and thought that to be a good host, she should ask if they wanted some too.

"You guys want something to drink?" Mira screamed towards the living room.

"Yes!" she heard the voice of Kim answer her.

"Y-yes." Will stammered.

"Yes ma'am." another voice said.

Mira would later be happy that she didn't yet have a glass in her hand and that she had decided to stop by her apartment first, because when she popped her head out of the kitchen, she saw three people on her couch instead of the two that she expected. She did then remind herself that Six might have told her about it already, but that just must have slipped her mind.

On her couch sat not one, but two octolings. Devon had apparently followed her back home as well. Mira could only imagine the chaos that would have ensued if she had taken them straight to a restaurant. While most inklings only knew what octarians looked like from vague pictures and old posters, they would not even doubt that she was, or at least looked to be, part of their army.

It was something she could remember well, her first time coming into contact with an Octarian. Admittedly, it was nothing but a simple trooper. However, at the time, that was already enough to make her startle. Almost everyone knew that the Octarians had been driven off the mainland and had taken refuge in the underground cave systems and the nearby canyon and valley. Some even thought that they had gone extinct. Four had always been on the fence about it all, but that first encounter was all she needed to accept that she hadn't even accepted when a celebrity had told her: the Octarians were still out there, and they were waiting for their chance.

She took the three glasses of soda to the living room and put them on the table. Her three guests all picked one. Each of them took a sip, but what surprised Mira was how Will then kept the glass at his mouth and just threw his head backwards, emptying the entire glass in a few seconds. _"How does one drink soda like that? Does he not feel-"_ Her thoughts were interrupted by Will belching and then excusing himself the best he could.

Mira went back to get her own glass and sat down on her sofa. Looking back, it had always seemed like a stupid idea to get oversized furniture, but now it came in handy.

The two octolings sat side by side. Only now did Four get to clearly see the differences between them. Eight indeed did look different from any of the octarians that she had fought, but Devon seemed like a carbon copy of a standard soldier. The broken hypnoshades didn't help either. Sure, it may not have any shining lights on it, but that didn't take away that her outfit was just one that they all seemed to wear. _"Great, now I got to find her something to wear too."_

All of them sat in silence and the ones who hadn't yet finished their soda drank the rest of it. _"Should I perhaps turn on the radio or tv, it's so silent. Why won't they just talk?"_

Mira stood up, but before she could even take a step, Kim spoke to her. _"Finally!"_

"That was a nice drink. Can I have some more?"

"Me too ma'am." Devon added.

She took the two's glasses and then saw how Will also held his one up to be collected. The glasses were put back on the table again and Mira let out a sigh as she walked over to the fridge and took the bottle. She put it on the table, next to the two glasses she had just put down, and poured them all another glass.

"If you want some more after that, just take it."

Mira took another look at her guests as they all took what she had just poured them. _"Should look for some clothing for Devon now, better just get that out of the way."_ She walked to her bedroom and opened her dresser. _"Let's see if I have another stupidly large hat."_

It didn't take long for her to find something that she was looking for. Somehow her dresser just kept on giving. A patched hat that had somehow been sold like that, not that it was ever going to be fresh, clothing that was made to look shoddy, but she had it anyway, apparently.

It didn't take her long to find a matching colorful jacket and shirt. Mira didn't even bother with shoes as she figured that the boots Devon was wearing wouldn't be all too suspicious. she pulled out some pants as she heard her kitchen tap running.

Mira almost threw herself into the door to the living room, making it slam open. Devon, who sat on the couch, looked up. Will and Kim stood in the kitchen with a bottle of what appeared to be dish soap and the four empty glasses. She could hear the sink now slowly filling up as she took a deep breath before walking over to the octoling on the couch.

"Here, try this on." She handed her the pile as she stood up.

As she suspected, Devon didn't really understand the concept of fashion either. What she didn't suspect was that she was even worse than Eight. She had put on the hat and put on the jacket straight over her chestplate and sleeved gloves. The jacket hid the chestplate very well, and even covered the belts that she wore without them sticking out. If she were to take off her gloves, it would already be what she assumed to be an effective disguise. _"How just a few pieces of clothing can come a long way."_

After having her take off the gloves and putting them in the jackets pockets, Mira looked over to the kitchen again to see and hear how Will was checking the cupboards to check where he had to put the now cleaned glasses.

She pointed him to the right cupboard and put away the dish soap. What puzzled her was that the rubber gloves that she always had to wear when doing the dishes still lay in the same spot that she had left them yesterday morning. They were still dry.

* * *

The four of them were on their way. Four had changed her mind every time they had rounded a corner, so they had been walking back and forth for a good while now and all of them started to feel how hungry they really were. Eventually, Mira had made a final decision that was mostly based on 'we are closest to this place' and had taken them to a diner called: 'the Fish Frigate'. She had been there on the occasion and knew that their cooking skill was mediocre when it came down to it, but it was at least a place where one could eat in peace and quiet.

A jellly with a small apron came walking by and put 4 menus on the table without even looking at them. It was weird to see the look on Will's face when the waiter passed, even though she knew that he had most likely never gotten a good look at a jelly before, although he must have seen some when they went to Grizzco this morning. They all took a menu and took a look at what it had to offer.

Four put it back down shortly after. There hadn't been any changes since her last visit, so she would just take the fried vegetables like the last time. Opposite of her sat Kim, who was going down the list, finding it hard to chose. On Mira's left, next to the wall, sat Devon, who was skimming the card and wondering what most of the dishes even were. Opposite of her sat Will, who, to no one's surprise, had no idea how to even read the language, indicated by him holding the menu upside down.

A dark blue inkling with his tentacles in a bun and a notebook in his hand came up to their table. Since the rest of the place was empty apart from a single inkling at the bar Mira couldn't understand why they even had more than one waiter going around.

"Welcome to the Frigate, what can I get for…" The inkling stopped as he looked around the table before resuming. "What can I get for you?"

"The fried vegetables." Four then continued, seeing as no one had made up their mind or even figured out what the menu listed. "And a tuna pizza, fried shrimp and some… some nuggets."

"And do you want something to drink with that?" The waiter continued as he scribbled down the order.

"I'll just have some water." But before she could tell him that the rest would be fine with water as well, he turned to Kim.

"And what would you like to drink, miss?"

"Do you serve cold, bottled beverages?"

Four could see how the waiter took a few seconds to process what she had just asked, and prayed to the Great Zapfish that he would just shrug it off. Lucky for her, he did.

"Yea, we have your run of the mill apple and orange juice, to soda's like Cod Cola and Salmo-"

"That one!" Eight almost yelled as she shot up out of her chair.

"Salmon Lime?" the waiter asked, dumbfounded.

She just nodded as she sat back down again, so he wrote down her order.

"And you two in the back?"

"Same for me." Devon replied. _"Luckily she doesn't speak to strangers like she does to me."_

"Me too." Will forced out of his throat, making the waiter drop his pen. He was staring at Devon, but then directed his attention to Will, who now uncomfortably sat as far in the back of his chair as possible. Four froze as she realized that he might have caught on to the fact that there were three people pretending to be inklings at the table. Eight didn't seem to be bothered with that, as she bent forward to pick up the pen.

"Here you go." She handed the pen to him. "I did not know you also had these."

He didn't even seem to listen, but still grabbed the pen and wrote down the last of the drinks that were ordered.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help but notice…"

_"Oh no! He's onto us!"_

"...that you aren't from around here, are you?"

Not only Mira, but also Will and even Devon let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that only Kim hadn't caught on how close they were to being unmasked. The waiter didn't seem to notice the sudden switches in atmosphere at the table, which was for the better.

"I haven't seen your faces before, so let me say: welcome to Inkopolis. Hope you'll like it here." And with that he turned around and wasted no time getting to the kitchen.

_Mira let herself fall back into her chair. She hoped that he indeed hadn't figured it out. For all she knew he had hidden it and was now calling for whatever one would call for in this situation. It didn't really matter, if he knew, they were all in deep troubled water._


	16. Stage set and covered

Mira gave her guests another quick look. All of them were easily recognizable if you know what they 'were', but just seeing them sit there didn't make them look out of the ordinary at all. Some may have found that they looked like squids that didn't have a sliver of fashion sense, but then again, finding inklings that couldn't tell you the difference between shirt and pants was just as easy as it was to tell the two pieces of apparel apart.

She snapped out of her daze as she noticed that Kim was staring at her, dying to ask her something.

"What is it?" She said without any noticeable anthousiam.

"I did not know that you also used these 'pen' things."

"You didn't?"

"I first saw one when I was repacking Seven's handheld box."

"A few things here. First, just use names, numbers are for missions only. Second, it's a suitcase. And third, while it was a surprise to see that humans also used pens, I thought you would know what they were."

"If I may, ma'am." Devon chimed in.

Mira let out a sigh and put her arm on the table so she could rest her hand on it. "You may."

"If I recall correctly, these 'pens' were taken out of commission because of health concerns."

"So you're telling me that you guys stopped using pens because you thought they might be used to stab someone with?" She could barely contain her laughter even thinking about it. "Do you know how many you'd need to splat someone?"

"Well… estimating the total ink that can come out of such a pen to have around the same impact as…" Devon started rambling. Four could see how Eight listened to her and even corrected her on some details, but she couldn't understand how someone could keep listening. Even Will didn't seem to mind, although it was hard to tell if he could follow what was going on.

The jelly with the apron came back, this time with a tray that had four glasses on it. One was filled with a clear, colorless liquid, the other three were a clear green color and had bubbles emerging from the bottom. The waiter put the glasses on the table and took off after grabbing the menus, extending their arm to reach the ones that lay in front of Devon and Will.

The two octolings were still going at it, so much so that they didn't seem to notice that their menus had been replaced by their drinks. And although Mira knew she shouldn't zone out as often as she did, she couldn't seem to keep her attention focused on the conversation.

"...taking into account the spread of the nozzle…"

"...do not forget about the maximum capacity…"

"...the position of the target has to be factored into…"

Whatever they were talking about, it sounded an awful lot like the talks Sheldon would give when introducing a new weapon, but he at least kept it simple, so that others could understand what he said.

"...in conclusion, the sum of the ink that one needs to annihilate a target would depend not only on the application, but also the resilience of the target itself, making a definitive number of pens needed depend on who is the one to do it and who is the one to be done."

_"I really hope she never phrases something that way EVER again."_

The other three didn't seem to mind or just didn't pick up on it. They were however not able to start on a new topic as the inkling came back with four plates. He held them up and since no one seemed to show who the plate was for, he put them at the center of the table. "There you go, enjoy."

They all looked at the plates. One had a pizza with tuna on it, one had fried shrimp, another had deep fried vegetables, and the last one featured some fried nuggets of something that was now completely indistinguishable.

Will was the first to try something. He slowly picked up a piece of the pizza and took a small bite, carefully chewing on it. After a bit, he took another, larger bite before guzzling down the piece. In the meantime, Devon had tried one of the nuggets while Kim was chewing on the shrimp. Mira just had picked the plate of fried vegetables and started eating like she had done the last time she had visited, completely seeming to ignore the others, caught up in her own thoughts as she saw that they liked the food she chose for them.

_"What am I going to say to Maya this time? With all these people now under my roof, I can't exactly invite her to come over either. Perhaps I could ask her if she wants to hang out this evening?"_

Before she knew it, she had already sent her friend a message asking if she already had plans for this evening. The reply soon followed, consisting of a simple: 'No'. The reply wasn't the only thing that was sent to her however, as she soon found that she was asking what she wanted to do.

**Mira:**

So… any plans today?

**Maya:**

Nope

You suggesting something?

**Mira:**

Idk

**Maya:**

Perhaps some Turf War?

**Mira:**

Sure, having lunch now, be there soon.

**Maya:**

Sure thing, I'll text the others.

**Mira:**

See you guys there.

Mira let the smartphone slide back down into her jacket's pocket with a sigh of relief. _"Maybe she can forgive me another time…"_ She hadn't realised that Will had already finished the pizza, Devon was on her last nugget, and Kim was chewing on her last bite as well, all the while she had barely started on her deep fried salad.

Will patiently waited while Kim and Devon strook up another conversation, continuously switching back and forth as they threw in some Octarian, making it next to impossible for Mira to follow. Not that she tried to, as she was now making short work of her own plate as not to have the rest wait on her for too much longer.

As if the waiter had waited on her to finish, he came up to their table.

"Do you want to place another order, or will that be all?"

Mira looked at the others, who all seemed to have emptied their plate, but not interested in the prospect of more food at all. "I think we're done."

"Sure, let me just get your bill. Do you want to pay with cash or use a card?"

"Cash is fine."

"Alright." He whipped out a small pad and made a receipt come out. "Here you are." He ripped it off the rest of the paper roll and handed it to her. He then held out the device as well.

"Looks fine." She said as she glanced over it before taking out her wallet and out of that the card that she needed. She stuck it into the device he was holding, punched a few numbers, and took it out again after a confirming beep was heard.

"Thanks, I hope you have enjoyed your meal. Have a good day." He turned back around and wanted to walk off again, but hesitated as he turned around again. "Where are they from? They look so… different…" He had started staring at her company again.

"Overseas" Mira simply replied, clearly sounding like she didn't want to have this conversation.

The waiter let out a suspicious "Hmm..." before turning around once more and walking off after seeing that the lone green squid at the bar was holding up their hand as they required another drink. Mira looked at the waiter until he was out of earshot and let out a relieved sigh. _"That was a close one."_

* * *

They had made their way down relatively calm streets, the only people they met not giving them a second thought as they passed by. Mira however couldn't help but feel stressed every time someone crossed their path. Only when the front door was closed again could she relax somewhat. She let out a sigh as she leaned against the door before making her announcement.

"I'm going out for a bit. You guys stay here."

"Where are you to go to?" Kim asked.

"A few friends invited me over. I'll be back by dinner."

"We will wait for you here."

"Understood." Devon replied.

Will simply nodded as to show he too had understood her.

Mira opened the door again, leaving her apartment after having taken her dualies and inktank that lay next to the door, where she always kept them at the ready for when she felt like leaving for a match. She headed straight for the square, where she suspected the others were already waiting for her.

While on her way, she couldn't help but feel a nagging feeling that everything could go wrong at any moment. She knew that if Marie or even the captain were to know about what she had just done, they would lose it and she would get scolded big time, but she had social duties to fulfill. They could say whatever they wanted, but she had friends that she wanted to stay friends with.

As Mira came closer to the square, more and more people were present, mostly inklings, but also jellies and even some crabs and the like. She never was the biggest fan of crowds and even tried to avoid them if possible, but the city centre just bloomed with life, making the confrontation unavoidable. She was happy when she spotted her three teammates in the distance, and almost ran at them, relieved not to be alone in the mass of people.

The three all stood ready with weapons and inktanks, Maya, Jake, and Jish wielding a roller, blaster, and charger respectively. Maya and Jake seemed eager, while Jish seemed to foresee the babysitting he would have to do, keeping their team secure was his job after all, but Jake made that hard with his constant pushes.

"Sorry guys, had a late lunch." Mira came up to them, wheezing.

"No problemmo." Jake almost sang to her. "You're here now, let's go and splat some butt."

"Just please for once, listen to me and stay back when you ought to." Jish told the overly enthusiastic boy with a clearly frustrated undertone.

"Did you guys hear something?" He joked, resulting in Jish letting out a sigh, wondering why he still put up with him.

"Anyway…. shall we?" Maya jerked her head to the tower behind them.

"Sure." Mira immediately started walking over to it.

"Let's do this thing!" Jake followed.

Jish followed in silence, shaking his head in disapproval of his brother's behaviour. The four of them walked inside.

* * *

In the rotation for that time was Splat Zones, which their team was great at. Jish covered the central area, where Jake would guard it as Maya and Mira picked off any enemies that dared to try and flank them, themselves flanking the centre as needed. During the best match of that evening they got immediate control and never lost it, leaving the team captain of the opposing team in tears of frustration. Perhaps the highlight of that evening would have been an angry brush user breaking his weapon after repeatedly hitting a wall with it out of pure displeasement.

The four of them left the tower, all happy with their, sometimes crushing, victories.

"I got over twenty splats that match!" Jake triumphantly proclaimed.

"And how many did I get from taking out people swimming up to you?" Jish criticized him.

"At least it worked." He laughed back, clearly not worried about his inability to watch his own back.

"There were a surprisingly small amount of people trying to come from the sides." Maya noted. "Maybe they were simply scared at the sight of my roler." She giggled as she held up the weapon on her shoulder. "Any more action on your side, Mira?"

"N-no, not really…"

"Are you thinking of something, you seem out of it today. Where are your guests from this afternoon at Grizzco?" She asked while the two boys had a 'friendly' discussion about whose tactics were better.

"It's not that… I'm just worried that-"

"You had guests? They were lucky, you never invite us over fo- argh, What was that for!?" Jish had stood on Jake's foot.

"You know why." His gaze almost piercing through him.

Mira let out a sigh. Jish was the first person after Maya who she had told about her difficulties with others, and while Maya seemed to forget it more often than not, he seemed to always take it into account and tried to stick out for her if need be. even though he was rather blunt in his approach. Jake on the other hand was a lot less thoughtful. _"But then again, he seems to lack the capacity to think at all sometimes."_

Maya let out an obviously faked yawn. "Oh cod, I'm tired. Great matches get me tired y'know." She looked at the rest before taking a few steps back. "Do you want to walk with me Mira? Because I'm going home." She turned around, fully expecting her to follow, which she did. The brothers were left, now back to their strategy discussion.

"So…" Maya started after they were out of earshot of the two. "...what's troubling you?"

"I said it's nothing." _"Please don't start to dig deeper, not now."_

"I may be gullible, but even I can see that you aren't feeling too fresh. What do you have to hide? You know you can tell me everything."

_"You have no idea, do you?"_ "I said I was fine, it's just… I have a lot to take in."

"Come on, out with it. You know I won't laugh."

"it's no laughing matter, more like headache inducing."

"Try me."

_"Why won't she just back off? I get she wants me to be happy, but this is just making it worse."_

"Please, don't make me."

"How could it be so bad that you… you don't want to talk about it because it would hurt again, isn't that so?"

"Ehhh, yes? Yes it is."

"I'm sorry I asked then, but you just seemed occupied, so I thought I'd ask."

Mira just sighed and continued walking, Maya stayed silent for a while as well, thinking that her friend would need that silence to work out whatever seemed to be troubling her.

"Sooo… I hope you have a good think over whatever it is that you're thinking about… I'm taking a right here, see ya!" Maya turned off and went into a different direction. "And don't forget to let me know when you want to do something together again." She called out from over her shoulder.

"I won't forget." Mira couldn't help but smile. Not only had she successfully steered away from having the NSS as a subject in their conversation, but she also felt happy for having had some fun, the turf wars always made her feel better, even in the worst of circumstances.

Mira happily made her way back to her apartment, her mind not even attempting to think about how badly the situation she could walk in upon could be. She was humming as she walked, still looking around from time to time. eventually she noticed that an individual seemed to have been behind her for a suspiciously long time, taking every turn that she had done. To test this, she made a turn that wasn't on her route. The figure followed.

After a few of these turns and even a few times where she walked back on herself, it was clear that the figure was indeed following her. She slowly increased her pace until she was practically running, her pursuer right behind her. _"Now just round a corner and then…"_

When Mira indeed found a corner to turn, she did so, completely ignoring anyone who looked at the inkling that ran by with dualies ready in her hands. She came to a complete stop in a mere second and rolled back the way she came, firing a single shot after turning around.

The person behind her expertly dodged it and held up their own weapon, almost slamming it into her face as she came to a stop in front of them, staring straight into the barrel.

* * *

The two of them sat on a bench next to a memorial. It had been a shock to find out who was following her, but a relief as well since it meant that that hadn't simply been the place she would have been splatted.

"So, to get things all worked out here. You followed me to ensure my safety?"

"Correct."

"But why? Don't you think that I could fend for myself?" _"Not that she had clearly beaten me there, but still…"_

"Clearly you are capable, but it isn't only your wellbeing I am concerned about."

"Then what is?" Mira said, slowly growing more frustrated.

"The others you are lending your beds to."

"And why is that?"

"I single handedly saved and got saved by one and the other has also had to endure suffering beyond your imagination."

"So you are trying to be nice? After all I have heard about you, I wouldn't have thought you were capable of that."

"And that alone proves your inability to understand others."

"Like you're one to talk."

"At least I know what my others are going through, but that is besides the point. I was simply following you to ensure that you kept your mouth shut as well as to get to know more about you and the ones you call friends."

"What's wrong with my friends!?" She couldn't contain her frustration any longer.

"It is something personal I don't feel the need to get into right now, or ever for that matter."

"And you thought that the best way to get to know me would be to stalk me from afar!?"

"Well I-"

"Even I know that you can just go up to someone and talk to them instead!"

"Quiet down, You're making a scene." There was no one else apart from them around, as almost everyone was now enjoying dinner.

"And what? You thought you could go around spying on other squids? And I'm the one that needs to chill?"

"You cannot seem to handle a few guests."

"I had to take them because you wouldn't."

"They haven't asked me anything of that sorts." They stood up. "Now, You remember my invitation?"

"What are you rambling about?"

"I asked you if you were interested in going to the museum with me tomorrow." A clearly annoyed voice now.

"And why would I want to go with the squid who stalked me and then almost took me down after?"

"Not that I want to go either, but I already have the tickets, and ordering some more for you and the others wouldn't be that hard."

"How do you think I could take those three to a museum of all places?"

"I saw them with you in that restaurant, you did a fine job I must say."

"When didn't you follow me?"

"The times you were at home."

"Please don't say that you were waiting around my house for me to leave."

"I had better things to do, and besides, you go out on a regular pattern anyways. All I had to do was tap your phone and-"

"You did WHAT!?"

"This conversation isn't getting me any further." They took a few steps before morphing into their squid form.

"Where do you think that you're going?" Mira stood up as well, but before she could reach them, they had jumped away, over a row of buildings that she didn't want to risk getting caught on. _"You better show up to that museum, so I can personally puncture that inkbladder of yours."_

* * *

When Mira came back, she had gone past a pizza parlor and brought back five boxed pizza's. She suspected that they were all hungry enough to share the last one. _"Or I just have one leftover in my fridge for an easy snack."_

When she entered, she put the boxes on the table, doffed her inktank and laid her dualies beside it. Only after did she notice that there were only two people in the living room. The two octolings were bent over Will's checkerboard, both taking turns to move a single piece, Kim only touching the white ones and Devon only moving the Black ones. She sat down to watch.

The board seemed to have eight rows and columns, alternating between black and white squares to make them clearly visible, it seemed that they were exactly the same amount and kind of black and white pieces. She found out that the reason some stood next to the board was that when one were to put their piece on the same square as the opponent, they would take their piece off the board.

"So… what is the goal?" She tried to ask in general, as both seemed to be in a state of utmost concentration.

"This game is about defeating the opponent their piece that bears a cross, ma'am." Devon answered as she pointed at a white piece that had a small white addition mark on its top.

"Anyway, I brought dinner." Mira continued, now opening the box on top, making the already clearly present smell come off even more.

"Perhaps we should continue our match after the dinner." Kim stated as she sat back, only to move back forward to the table to grab a slice of her own.

"But I wonder…" Mira said after Devon had also helped herself. "Anyone know where the human is at?" _"I said to myself to call him by his name, why is that so hard?"_

Both of them stayed silent as they turned their head to the door that led to the rest of the house. It was then that she could hear an ever so faint sobbing being emitted from what appeared to be the bathroom.

With a sigh, Mira got back up and opened the door. The hallway was empty, and all the other doors were closed. As she walked over to the door to the bathroom, the sobbing became louder and could now clearly be heard. She could even hear him speak, although she had no idea what he was saying. She hesitated in front of the door.

_"What should I do? He will have to at least eat something, but if I go in there he'd expect me to comfort him. How would I even go about doing that? I don't even know how to comfort a cephalopod, let alone someone who I can't even understand._

_What would he have to whine about anyway? Did Kim or Devon say something to him? Did he hurt himself? Why would he be so sad?"_ It puzzled her. Not knowing what else to do, she went back to the living room.

She returned to the bathroom door with a still closed box of pizza in her hand. She slowly opened the door and found Will leaning on the sink while looking in the mirror. His face full of tears as he was shaking ever so slightly with every sob.

"Umm, Will?" Mira carefully tried to make herself known, which worked, as he turned around.

Will tried to rid his face of the tears using the back of his hands, but since they were already saturated with older tears, he just spread the fresh ones out a bit, making it look even worse.

"I brought some dinner…" She held up the box.

Will said something she couldn't understand as he turned back to the sink and turned open one of the tap's valves, making water run out. _"Why would he need that, I only use it to clean the bathroom, he's not going to clean this place, is he?"_

The answer soon revealed itself as he used his hands as a makeshift bowl and put them under the running water without even flinching. This wasn't the most shocking however, as he then proceeded to throw the small puddle into his face, rubbing it afterward, still not showing any sign of pain as he washed his face.

"What in the name of the Great Zapfish!?" Mira stood with an open mouth as she watched him clean his face with water, not only not seeming to feel pain, but also not affected at all.

He looked up and tried to speak to her, only to realise that she couldn't understand him anyway.

"Doesn't that hurt?" She tried to give him simple questions he could answer by nodding.

He shook his head in response, understanding what she tried to do in an attempt to still communicate.

"So, you can just stick your hand in water?"

He nodded this time.

"And you don't just dissolve?"

He gave her a look that mostly consisted of questioning and a hint of surprise.

"And how about ink?" Her curiosity and excitement were now clearly showing.

He turned off the water and now let the tap spew out ink, it being a red color with a hint of purple, just like Kim. He stuck his hand under it, and just like with the water, seemed not to be affected.

"But what if…?" She walked up to the sink and turned the color dial, making the ink that came out change to a light orange.

He still seemed not to be affected, which made Mira's excitement grow more and more.

_"Just wait until I tell the others about this. They're going to be blown away!"_


	17. Museum of confrontation

Without asking, she took a hold of one of his hands. The ink that had flowed over it made her feel a slight burn, but Will seemed to be fine. "_Amazing, he doesn't look hurt at all."_

"Didn't that hurt?" she asked to confirm her suspicion.

Will shook his head. Raising a confused eyebrow at the question, as it seemed odd to him.

"Just you wait until we show this to the rest." Mira was excited. This was surely to make Three more happy with Will. He could easily help them out if he could simply soak up enemy fire.

"Let's tell Lia Tomorrow, we'll be seeing her in a museum."

Will nodded as to let her know he understood. "_I really need a set of headgear next time I try to talk to him."_

* * *

Putting her guests to bed made Mira get the idea she understood how her mother must have felt. Will seemed to grasp the concept of pyjamas and how to lay in a bed, but Kim and Devon had to have their hand held every step of the way.

After having explained to them for the third time that one is supposed not to sleep with three in a bed meant for two, Mira hoped that they finally understood and headed to bed herself.

"_Yesterday I thought I'd seen it all, but now I sincerely doubt that."_ She looked at the weather forecast, that depicted a nice sunny day with a chance of some dark clouds in the afternoon. While she looked forward to going to the museum, as it was a quiet place where she at least could relax somewhat now the calm of her own house had been taken away from her, she still wasn't to happy that she had to meet Three there.

"_I hope she at least tries to act nice, maybe she even knows more about… what even do they have at the museum? I guess I'll see that when we get there. But at least I hope those three know how to behave themselves."_

Mira pondered about this for a moment and soon after fell asleep.

* * *

When she woke up, she wanted to turn to lay on her back and slowly sit up. As she did so, something felt out of place, the mattress was warm on the other side, like someone had just gotten up. She heard the sound of her rooms door opening, rubbed her eyes, and looked.

Devon stood by the door, her hand on the handle, wearing her armor that she had worn yesterday.

"I am sorry to wake you ma'am." she bowed down to her.

"Why are you in my bedroom?" Mira yawned.

"As you said, your beds have the capacity to accompany two. When I went to go to bed after Kimberly, She had taken the bed that Will was also using, so that left your bed as the one with a vacant spot."

"How late even is it?" Mira rubbed her eyes again before looking at the alarm clock next to her bed.

"six hundred seventeen ma'am." She had no idea what she meant by that, but it was still only past a quarter past six in the morning.

"Why are you already awake?"

"I am late for my normal routine, yesterday has been hectic all things considered."

"Just calm down, we don't have to leave till half past seven."

"Then when will we attend breakfast?"

"I dunno, When we feel like it?" Mira laid back down, ready to continue sleeping for another half an hour.

"But we only have five fifteen minute periods left."

"Alright then…" She sounded annoyed as she sat up again and started getting her clothes. "... I'll get something ready for you all."

Mira got up and dressed. When she headed to the living room, she found not only Devon but also Kim, both of them playing that game the human had brought with him. "_They seem to enjoy it, perhaps I should give it a try one day."_

She headed for the kitchen after being completely ignored as the both of them were solely focused on the pieces on the board. The fridge wasn't very well stocked as she hadn't done any groceries for three days now. A few slices of bread with some scrambled eggs where what she could find to at least make a somewhat decent breakfast.

After preparing and then dividing the food over four plates, she brought the first two of them to the octolings on her couch. Both of them looked up from their game as each took her plate

"Thank you."

"Thank you ma'am"

"you're welcome, and please stop saying that."

"Me?"

"No Kim, I meant Devon."

"Then what did I say wrong?"

"Nevermind…"

The two of them turned to their plate and started making short work of it. She took the third plate and headed over to the guest bedroom to see if Will was already awake. He was not.

Mira slowly walked up to him and called his name. surprisingly, this was enough to wake him, although he didn't seem to happy by having his sleep grumbled something and let out a yawn.

"I've got you some breakfast." Mira held out the plate to him.

He looked at it with hungry eyes and took the plate, setting it on his lap as she sat up.

"We'll be leaving in a small hour."

He didn't even seem to notice her anymore as chomped down on the food. "_Where they really that hungry? I thought they had had enough to eat last night."_

She went over to the bathroom and freshened up, put on some new clothes and went back to the living room. Will passed her on the way out and closed the door behind him. Mira noticed that he carried a small bag. "_most likely some soap and stuff. Makes me wonder what he uses to clean that hair stuff."_

Even when the clock showed that is was already a quarter past seven, he still hadn't left the bathroom. She knocked on the door as he really had to leave, since the other two were still awaiting their turn and they only had about a quarter left. "_Why do I even want to arrive on time? If anything Three should be making her excuses, not me."_

Will yelled something. Not knowing what he said, Mira decided to take a peek and found him in front of the mirror, using some sort of brush to get his hair into different configurations. Whenever he stopped, he looked at himself for a bit before sighing and starting over, not happy with the result.

"Are you done soon? We only have a good ten minutes left and people still need to use the bathroom."

He sighed again and lowered the utensil, looked at the mirror again, sighed some more, turned around, and left. "_What's his problem now?"_

After that both Kim and Devon had done whatever they had to in the bathroom, they left. It was already twenty five until eight, but Mira hoped they could make up for it by not letting themselves get distracted as they made their way to the museum at a pace that made it look like they had to arrive in time or otherwise their world would end.

"Why are we marching at this rate ma'am?"

"So we can arrive on time." Mira kept it short, as to not run out of breath as they walked down a road from where they could see the large building that housed the museum at the end of the street.

"Why are we visiting a museum?" Kim asked.

"Lia wanted to meet us there."

"But why not at the captain his place?"

"You tell me."

"But I do not know why. I asked you because of that."

"I was being figurative."

"How do figures have to do with…"

"Nevermind."

She hurried to the entrance, expecting to see Three waiting on them. However, she wasn't there. "_I guess I could act as if I arrived on time, but why even isn't she? Three didn't seem like the squid to be late."_

As she waited for Lia to show up, she saw two of her teammates enter the museum. Mira was happy to find that Jake nor Jish had seen her as they showed their tickets, although she knew that there was a chance that they would run into each other inside.

Mira also noted the signs. It seemed like a history exposition, although she couldn't make out what era.

The two were just about to head inside as one of them noticed her.

"Hey, Mira." Jake called out. "Fun to see you here."

"Not really my choice, but why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He answered as he came up to her, followed by Jish.

"We're here because we wanted to visit with our sister." Jish told her, stressing the last part.

"It's not my fault she ran off."

"It is and you know it."

"I didn't chose to take her to some dusty old museum."

Mira looked around. When the two of them started arguing, it was hard to get through. To her relief, she saw Three walking up to them, although she was surprised to see that when Lia saw the two brothers standing next to her, she froze. Now Four also saw that she was holding the hand of a small inkling that still hadn't fully formed her humanoid form, as had not only orange tentacles, but was orange all over.

Four put up her hand and waved at her, making the two boys look over as well.

"Jake, you see her too right?"

"Yea, why you ask?"

"Then go up to her."

"Dude, I was gonna." He took a single step and then stopped again as he saw who stood next to the little girl.

"I think I see the problem now."

"oh. Now do ya!?" Jish sneered back at him.

"What's wrong? Is that your sister?'' Mira asked, confused at what the fuss was about.

"The orange one is…." Jake began.

"... and she is here with our cousin…" Jish filled him in, clearly not happy about it.

"Lia is your cousin?" Mira was unsure if she wanted to laugh or feel bad for the boys.

"How do you know her?"

"She's a colleague from work." She quickly replied.

"Really, she never tells us about what she does for a living."

"_Neither did she ever tell me. Not like she seems talkative."_

"That makes me wonder, you have never told us what you do when you are unavailable because of work." Jish said, hoping she were to tell him what it was that she did for some extra coin.

Mira was happy that she didn't have to answer as now Lia and the girl came up to them. Only now did she notice that Devon stood behind her, she only saw her because she decided to look where she, Will, and Kim where. The other two still sat on the stairs leading up to the building, having a mostly one way conversation.

"Jake. Jish." Lia said with a cold voice as she gave the two a short conservative nod as she named them.

"Lia." Two responded in the same manner.

Mira looked at the little girl, hoping to avoid being caught in the crossfire of gazes.

"Hi, I'm Joline." she told her. "Are you the lady that Lia talked about?"

"That depends, did she give you a name?"

"She said that you are ignorant and oblivious, although I don't know what that means." She continued, like she hadn't heard her.

Mira had to put in effort to hold up her phony smile. "_Of course she'd describe me like that, she made that clear yesterday. To tell such things to your younger cousin though."_

"I also heard her say that you are bad with people. How can anyone be bad with people?"

"I think that's indeed me." She tried not to sound sad.

"But she also said that you seemed like you try your best and that you would maybe even be good at something I couldn't understand." she again said without seeming to register her talking.

"oh"

"She even said that-"

"And that's enough of that." Lia had noticed Joline talking with Mira and didn't seem to happy that her cousin was sharing her thoughts about others with others. She stopped after feeling Lia pull on her arm.

"Do you want to enter already?" Jake said in a different angry tone then the one he used when arguing with his brother.

"Let's just get this over with." Lia sighed. "Call the others, we're going in."

"The others?" Jish looked over as Mira signaled Will and Kim to come over.

"So she is with you?" Jake asked, looking at Devon, who had been standing behind her, somehow going unnoticed until now. Jake's voice got more calm and soon sounded as slick as ever. "How your doing my lady?" He even made a slight bow to her.

"I am fine, thank you for asking." she bowed down to him as well, thinking it was a way of greeting each other, seeing as how he did it.

"And how are you, gorgeous?" He bent even further for Kim as he saw her. She in turn simply gave him a confused look.

"How can someone feel gorgeous?"

Jake ignored her question as he now focused on Will. "How's it hanging my dude?" He stook up a hand to give him a high five, and Mira was relieved to find that he knew what he wanted and answered by giving him one.

"So these are more of your colleagues I assume." Jish more stated then asked.

"They are." Lia replied to him.

"so it's like a company outing?"

"exactly" her voice kept having this chilling sound to it. "And since Joline ran off to me again, I decided that since you were going to show up anyways, it would be easiest to return her to you here."

"Of course you would…" Jake made fun of her.

"I don't want to leave you." Joline said with a trembling voice as she clamped to Lia's arm.

Lia turned around and crouched down in front of her. Her cold voice seemed to have warmed up as she comforted her. "You know you can't stay with me. But if you call me you can be sure that you can come to visit another time, okay?" she made gestures with her hands as she said it, and the young girl seemed to be concentrated on them instead of her face.

The little orange girl seemed to cheer up some and hugged her, getting it returned by her cousin. "_How can someone be so cold and so heartswarming at the same time?"_

When the two let go, Joline walked over to her brothers. "I want to go home now."

"But we already payed for the-" Jish got cut off by Jake.

"Sure, not like I wanted to go anyway." Jake made a gesture towards their sister.

The three of them turned, and after Jish gave the museum one last look, they left.

"That were some family matters I hope you'll never bring up."

"So you can be kind."

"And you are missing the point. But how did you know those two inkbrains anyway?"

"They're in my turf war team."

"You don't say… But are we still going in or what?"

"You have the tickets, we were waiting for you."

"But you don't seem eager to go in."

"Where did you get that idea?"

"I'm not looking forward to having to work with you either, but at least try to relax around me, I don't intend on hurting you if that's what you think."

"It's not that-"

"Great, than let's get this over with."

She turned and quickly found herself at the entrance proper, handing over the tickets as the rest came walking after her. After a short greeting and being wished a good day by the doorman, they headed inside, only to immediately be greeted by one of the prime pieces of the exposition. In front of them stood a large skeleton of what the sign read to be a giraffe. It's long neck made one feel small and insignificant.

As Mira looked around, most of the museum seemed filled with parts of mammal skeletons, most with a name as well as a small description of what could be seen. Some parts were of legs, the other of the spine, there were a few intact skulls, and the list went on as they ventured deeper into the museum. Kim and Devon seemed to be intrigued as they stood by the displays like little kids stood in front of an ice cream truck, Lia however seemed to only be eager to continue on, as to get things over with. Will had taken Devon's roll of following Mira as they went, he seemed not to be interested. "_No wonder, he's probably seen these things living and walking around and stuff."_

As they continued on their small tour, Mira couldn't help but have the feeling that some disaster was waiting to happen.

"Lia?"

No reply.

"Can I ask you something?"

"What?" she answered, clearly not into conversation.

"Why do I feel like there is something about to go wrong?"

"How should I know?"

"I don't know, maybe you felt it too."

"I don't, so don't bother me with it."

"Okay…"

Mira felt even less significant next to her than next to the large skeleton in the lobby. She was happy to spot a tour guide a bit further ahead as listening to someone rattle on about something might help her get her mind off of things, or at least to get her to think about other things instead.

"... has a spectacular tail, as it was assumed to be used to not only help with stability, but also be used to climb. Some experts even thought that they were able to hang down from a branch using their tail alone. Now if you would look over here we have…"

"_Why do I always find myself drifting off when others talk? And why do I always seem to find myself with people that like to talk a lot? At least Three keeps it short, not that that is any better."_

"... These monkeys were often found with sharp rocks. Those rocks were most likely used as makeshift tools for things as cracking nuts and cutting."

The guide paused for a moment and turned to the end of the hallway.

"Now we are proud to present our most valuable piece of this whole exposition…"

The group started walking after the guide, closer to the brightly illuminated display case. Mira got a better look at it and could see that it was yet another skeleton, although this one seemed complete. "_oh no"_

"... It is one of the few complete skeletons to ever be found, and it is also in near perfect condition." The guide happily continued.

"_Why did I bring them with me? Why did I not see this coming as we entered?"_

"I am proud to show you… You know what? You should already know what this is." He waited on their response.

"A human." Some of the small crowd that had followed him gasped as they reached the case that held a humanoid skeleton. The case itself was almost lower then the ground and besides it even stood a small stool.

"Who wants to take a picture?" The guide asked, clearly not knowing that that skeleton wasn't the only human in the building. "Step on that stool and take a picture, but please don't touch the glass."

Mira tried to nonchalantly look over at Will. He stood behind her, staring at the glass box that was now bombarded with flashes from phones taking pictures. "_What have I let happen?"_

He stood there for a bit, and a bit longer, and kept standing perfectly still, even when the guide and the group moved on to something called a 'platypus'. He didn't even move it's eyes to look at the whole thing, he simply stared it in the eyes, or the hollow sockets that used to house its eyes.

"eh… Will?"

He didn't respond.

Lia came up to them, having kept a slow but steady pace while they had ran off to follow the guide for a bit. She looked at the case, then at Will, back to the case again, and then to Will once more as she walked up to him.

"Yep, That's all we knew about your kind until now."

"_Really smooth Three."_ Even Mira knew that that was a horrible way to cheer someone up, even though she had no experience with comforting someone, let alone with one who has to accept that their entire kind had gone extinct.

"You can stand here and wait until you look like that, or you can move on and help us."

Will seemed to find inspiration in those words, since he looked away again.

"Now, let's get a move on." Lia said in a somewhat bossy voice.

He somehow seemed to take it and started to walk along the route that was set out through the museum. Mira decided to let them be for a bit and waited on Kim and Devon to arrive.

The two of them soon after showed up, giggling like little kids.

"And the neck…."

"How would it even turn its head on that…"

"So you two are having fun."

"Indeed ma'am."

"This has been a great day so far."

"Don't get your hopes up, we have to 'work' this afternoon."

"That…"

"We shall be at our best ma'am."

"At least it's good to see that you're enjoying yourselves."

"We are enjoying our time in this museum and the company of each other, not ourselves."

"That's what I meant Kim." Mira sighed.

"I do not understand ma'am. You keep using words to say something that those words do not equate to."

Mira let out another sigh. She didn't want to get into that, not that she didn't think that they wouldn't understand. She just wasn't up for another lecture, not even one that she could give.

"Can you take pictures of us with these skeletons?" Kim asked.

"Why?"

"Is that not what friends do when visiting these places?"

"I guess it is..." She sighed some more before pulling out her phone.

"Shall we continue?" Kim asked as to try to not loose Lia and Will, since they had already gone off.

"Sure, lead the way."

"But the path is marked with those arrows that are printed onto the ground ma'am."

"Follow those then…" Their capability to not know of basic concepts made her want to give herself a good slap in the face.


	18. An unexpected welcome

The five of them were making their way to the captain's shack. Lia went in front, Mira walked after her, followed by Kim and Devon, and last Will. How much Mira tried, Lia didn't seem in for any kind of conversation, and since the two girls behind her were already happily chatting away and Will seemed to still not have gotten over their trip to the museum, she kept silent.

As the platform stopped as it hit the floating landmass, The captain, together with agent Two.

"So you kids are finally ready to get going?"

"Calm down cap'n, we're not in our suits yet."

"Good you mention it Three, Gramps made the human a suit out of that thing you found."

"Then hand it to them, I got to get ready." She said before disappearing in the shack.

"She's not to happy with you. What happened?" Four tried to ask.

"Nothing important. You should get to equipping yourself as well. All of you should." She looked over at Devon and Kim chatting behind her and then at Will, who was trying to put on the vest Cuttlefish handed to him just now.

Mira went in and took her suit out of the crate, passing Three and finding herself a spot behind some crates as well before changing out her clothes for the yellow suit and putting on an inktank. As she left she got her dualies out of another crate and she joined Three back outside, passing Kim and Devon as they went in to get their stuff.

"I believe your mission is clear?" The captain asked her as she came out the door.

"We're supposed to visit the spot where many octarian troops have disappeared. Right?"

"Correctomundo."

"And tell me why we're doing this again."

"It should be a simple first mission for the three new recruits to get acquainted with this sort of work." Two answered her.

"How do you mean: three?"

"You have those two…" She jerked her head towards the cabin. "... and the human over there."

"And we two have to take them with us?" Mira was hesitant. Having to work with Three was already something she was sure to have a bad time with, but to also have to drag those three with them as well.

"At least you'll have me and gramps as your support, we'll be listening and advising them all the way. And the others are also soon here, so you'll have all of us to guide you guys."

"Then why don't you just come along with us?"

"My days as a field agent are behind me, alright? I told you this already. I'm getting older every day, and you are clearly better at it then I will ever be."

"That might be true, but... " Mira couldn't find anything to go against what she had just told her.

"Now, Devon, or agent nine as I believe she was assigned, should know where you're heading, and there you have the last of you guys." She ended as she saw the two come back out of the building, both simply having doffed their jackets and strapped on their tanks, although the one Eigth wore looked weird, as it was more like a backpack.

Will now walked in and soon came back as well, holding a roller as he tried to awkwardly put on an inktank on his back. Kim and Devon had both taken the weapons they had tried the day before, a blaster and charger respectively, Three had her old, slightly banged up hero shot, and Four had simply picked the Dualies.

"You all should know where you are heading to, we'll be here for the much needed support." Marie left by entering the building, soon followed by the captain after he'd wished Eight and Three both success on their mission.

"So, Nine, You should know more about where we are off to?"

"I do ma'am."

"Good, tell us."

"Of course."

Three walked over to the platform and all of them followed. Devon continued as the platform started moving again.

"It is near the edge of our claimed area, and is often referred to as the 'undead underpass'. This name is derived from the eyewitness reports of the troops that had avoided capture. Most of them reported figures that looked like soldiers, but with a light green skin and deep blue tentacles. They never spoke a word when they were seen, hence the name."

"And you only bother to tell this now?" Three, although not sounding really angry, clearly wasn't happy about Devon stating this information any sooner.

"It is only a myth ma'am. All of the survivors were so traumatized that they had to be disbanded from their duties."

"Let me tell you know, those reports weren't just from crazy cephalopods that couldn't even ink a straight line. If my theory is correct, and I fear it is, they are definitely real, and the name wouldn't be to far off."

"How could you know such things ma'am?"

"Because she has seen them, we both have." Eight answered with a cold, gloomy voice that was in great contrast to her usual upbeat one.

"And you both survived that?" Devon looked at the two in disbelief as they got off the platform and followed the soldier down a path that slowly headed down into the deep, dark depths.

"Are you sure we should go there?" Seven asked, making Three and Four both look at him in surprise, until they realized that they both had modified headpieces that could translate the gibberish he spoke.

"If I'm correct, then an enemy lurks down there. We should be careful as we proceed." Three seemed to talk to Devon instead of Will even though she gave an answer that was more suited for his question.

They proceeded in silence, now having to walk one after the other as the path had narrowed down to something that could nearly be classified as a ledge. They slowly made their way down, they air becoming more chilly as their altitude lowered.

"It's getting colder down here. Don't you to find it cold?" Four asked Eight and Nine who were walking in front of her.

"No ma'am."

"I am fine, thank you for asking."

Mira shrugged her shoulders and continued on with the rest. It didn't take them that much longer to reach the cave where Devon had spoken of. It at first appeared to be a regular cave entrance, but at closer inspection they found that the floor had been smoothened and air seemed to be flowing out in regular intervals.

"This is it, isn't it?" Seven looked down the long, unnaturally straight cave.

"It is." Nine answered, making Four wonder why she wouldn't speak to him like she did to the rest of them.

"Who will go first?"

"Perhaps Three should." The captain's voice chimed in the headpieces of Three, Four, and Seven.

"Maybe W- Nine should go?" Four suggested.

"And why would you send in a newby first?" Thee sneered back, clearly not feeling like going first herself.

"He… eh… well… I wanted to tell you sooner…"

"What?" Three asked in a demanding voice.

"well, yesterday I found him in my bathroom... "

"So?"

"He was using my sink…"

"And?"

"He held his hand-" She stopped as all of them heard the faint sound of someone running being emitted from inside the cave, and it quickly became louder.

All of them turned, holding their weapon at the ready, even Seven, who had once again asked Four to fill his tank. They saw a silhouette appear in the dark distance, it was wearing white and green colored clothing and as it drew near, they could make out that it was some white coat covered in green ink, although it didn't really look like ink, since it seemed to somehow pulse.

Nine took aim at the figure, and held a shot ready as they could now make out more of the approaching figure. It took most of them a bit to realise that it wasn't something they had seen much before, its head was way smaller then normal and on its head lay no tentacles, but those long wavy wires. Nine recognized what they were first, they had looked identical to the target that had obliterated her squad, but this was a different individual.

"A human?" Three sounded confused, but still held up her weapon.

"There are more!?" The captain yelled in surprise.

There was a short silence in where Seven put down his roller and took a few steps forward. The figure came closer and closer until what appeared to be a she finally reached them.

"I never thought I'd see anoth-" Further did he not come as he was grabbed by his shoulders and slammed against one of the cave's walls.

"They are evil." The woman cried out.

The rest stood by, weapons at the ready, except for Four, who knew that it wouldn't do anything, she stood by and watched it unfold.

"Wha-" Will tried to ask her.

"They are evil, all of them." The lady exclaimed.

"What are e-"

"All of them must be destroyed. Every last one!"

"But what m-"

This time he wasn't cut off by the lady, but a noise that Four knew all too well. From the cave, a slight, ever growing whir was heard, making her step aside from the entrance, soon followed by the others as a faint green line became visible. Suddenly, without further warning, the beam solidified as whatever had made the whir now made an almost screeching sound.

The beam didn't hit any of the agents, but it perfectly pierced the woman's torso, making her flinch and loosen her grip from Will, who used to opportunity to push her back a bit. As she moved back by the push, the beam followed to stay locked on her torso. When it stopped after a few seconds, it had felt like hours had passed. Where most would have been splatted long ago, it seemed humans could withstand even a stingray, or at least, it appeared so at first.

The human stood still for a short moment longer, and them coughed. The thing was that it sounded more like someone drowning, at least it did to Will. a load of light green ink was thrown out of her mouth. The next cough brought more of the goop, and so did the next one, although there were now traces of red mixed in. The more she coughed, the more of the fluid that came out was red. With every cough she seemed to get weaker, her legs quickly trembling before failing to hold her up any longer.

All of them looked at how she made her last cough, covering the floor with the red liquid before laying perfectly still. "Destroy… them…" She said with her final breath.'

After having said that, she closed her eyes, made a final attempt at a cough, and passed out. None of them knew how to help her, or of she could even be helped.

"So… That's something that happened…" Two broke the silence.

"Tell me about it." Four looked at the sad lifeless body.

Three however kept her gaze fixed at the tunnel. Looking over as well Four saw green figures appear in the distance, slowly but steadily growing larger as they approached.

"That… that are them…" Devon held her breath as they came closer.

"Three and Eight both stared at the things that at first appeared like octolings, looking the same as Devon, but there was something off about them, next to their colors. The way they moved seemed almost robotic, like they weren't truly alive.

Two of the three of them broke off of the group and started dragging the lifeless body inside. The other one came up to the group, the largest oddity being that they didn't raise their weapon, a pair of dualies, as they drew near, they walked up to them as if expecting a friendly conversation.

Both Eight and Three had their weapons at the ready for if they were to even think of raising theirs, all the while Devon was shaking all over and Will simply looked at the creatures with some mix of interest and confusion.

"Follow." The one that had walked up to them told them before turning around and walking after the other two, back into the cave.

All of them stood there for a bit, not sure if they were walking right into a trap or if they would be lead straight to the source of the treat. At last, Will took action and followed, making a few large steps to keep up as they had already taken a few.

"So, we're going in?" Four asked to her headpiece.

"You are with five of you, you should be fine as long as you-" Maire cut out, being replaced with a simple static.

"Marie?"

Nothing but static.

"Three, she-"

"We lost contact, but you heard her, we should follow and see what this is about." She started following after Will, soon followed by Eight as well.

Four shrugged and followed, the line closed by Devon, who was still shaking all over as she tried to stick close to Mira.

As they went, the cave became darker. When they reached a corner, they could see a light in the distance. It was a single long stick that hung off a wall with a large metal door, guarded by two troops that were identical to the three that they had already seen.

The moment the group reached the door, it seemed to open by itself, without any input from the guards and the three that lead them didn't seem to have done anything either. The door revealed a large, gray hallway, lit by more of the same tubular lights.

When they passed it, the door automatically closed behind them, an audible clang as the two segments hit one another. The sound echoed throughout the otherwise completely silent hallway.

The hallway was rather short, ending at a platform that seemed to be suspended by nothing but the hallway that they came from.

"What is this place?" Four looked around.

"The metro." Three and Eight said at the same time like it was a competition on who could sound more like they were reliving a trauma.

The three who were new to this place weren't even done looking around when a train came their way. It only braked just before it reached the station, like it had to make an emergency stop to not overshoot the station.

As the doors opened, the three green octolings stepped in and sat down, not speaking a word. The body of the human was dropped in between the two who had carried it. Both of them somehow had found a way to hold onto their weapons, a blaster and roller, while carrying her. With some hesitation, the rest entered as well. Eight looked around the train, but couldn't find what or who she was looking for and sat down with a somewhat somber face.

Devon couldn't help but look at the figures who brought them there, they seemed familiar somehow, and the wound on the side of the one with dualies only made a bad gut feeling seem more and more like hard truth.

When Eight went to sit down with the rest, the train closed its doors and continued along its current route. She took out some weird handheld device and pressed a button that made a holographic map show up in front of her. Everyone but herself and Three looked at with surprise and amazement.

"We're indeed not on the testing track." Three told her as the both of them looked for something on what appeared to be some sort of map.

Eight nodded and with another single button press the map disappear again. She pocketed the device again like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"What was that ma'am?" Devon asked. Happy to not have to ponder about the figures that brought them here.

"A map of a part of this place." Three answered abruptly.

"And why are you in possession of that?" She directed her question to Eight.

"As I said, we've been here before." She replied.

Three then turned to four. "You wanted to say something back at the entrance." It was clear she basically commander her to speak.

"That… Well, the thing is…"

"Out with it."

"You see what that stingray did to that human?" Four looked at the lifeless body between the two green soldiers.

"It punctured her, but she didn't splat."

"That's what I wanted to say."

"That they don't splat?"

"Why aren't you freaking out by this?"

"Look around, why would that be the thing to freak me out?"

A silence fell over the coupe as the train traveled across seemingly no more than thin air.


	19. The mindless mindful

'click'

"So now you made a photo?"

"indeed"

Mira couldn't help but smile as she saw how Kim and Devon were getting along. The same couldn't be said for Lia, Will, and herself. She had to admit that she didn't really try, but Lia seemed to try and actively avoid it. What Will did was hard to understand, he had seemed to be eager to get acquainted, but still kept his distance after that.

After what seemed like years of staring out of the window, the train slowed down, and they could see one of the soldiers get up. With one of it's dualies it beckoned Eight and Nine to follow.

When Three also stood up, they raised their other hand, balancing the dualie on their thumb. "No. Only they follow."

The two did as they were asked and followed the soldier off the train, giving the others nervous glances as they got off. Once they were both outside, the doors closed and the train started moving again.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"This time I have to agree with you."

"You've been here before. Have you got any idea what those things are?" She jerked her head towards the two green soldiers that looked exactly like octarians that were colored by someone who wanted to make some sort of horror story.

"Those were soldiers once…"

"What are they now?"

"Beats me, but as far as I could find out he took soldiers and drenched their internals in his sludge."

"Who is this he?"

"Someone Eight blasted into the next Turf War." The corners of her mouth seemed to attempt a smile.

"So those were once like Devon?"

"I believe so."

"But what are they now?"

"Like I said: Beats me. I assume there are mere husks that take orders now, but the bigger question is from who they are taking orders."

"So there is someone down here in control of these figures?"

"And most likely also behind all those missing military units. I think I can guess where they were used for."

"Those soldiers we have fought so far, those were not mindless drones, where they?"

"These are mindless drones, the ones up in the canyon and valley were just like Devon, although they are forced to take orders by those goggles."

"So I've been splatting actual p-"

"Don't think about it, it won't make you feel better. I did, and look how I ended up."

"So you weren't always like this?" As she asked this, she felt the train slowing down again.

There was no reply as they looked out and they saw another platform hanging from the wall they had been riding next to all that time. As the train came to a standstill, the soldier with a roller stood up and indicated Three and Four to follow her.

"I really don't have a good feeling about this."

"I said I didn't either." Three sighed.

"First Eight and Nine, and now Seven. They are driving us apart."

"Than they made a poor choice putting the best two next to each other." Three didn't seem to bothered with having to get out, so Four followed her, unsure about how this was going. "_It might have been an unintended compliment, but I'll take it."_

They looked back and saw the doors close. The train accelerated and soon they couldn't even make out where the human sat as the train disappeared in the distance. When they turned back, they saw the what Three called a sanitized octoling standing a bit further along the hallway, waiting on them to follow. After exchanging some gazes, the both of them did.

They passed a few doors before turning and entering one of them which let them to yet another hallway, albeit smaller than the one they had come from. They followed the octoling down the corridors, turning left, then right, one straight ahead, another right, more right, and they kept going. They finally stopped at a dead end. The ending had a door to the left and right, and where all the other doors that were open had dark rooms behind them, these ones were lit up. The soldier opened one of them and gestured them to enter.

The room they were asked to enter looked like some kind of waiting room, a bunch of old heavy wooden chairs stood along one of the walls, there stood a small table with a plant pot that seemed to have once held a living plant, and a shelf with dusted books that looked like they would fall apart if you only breathed in their direction. Looking at the floor made it clear that there hadn't been cleaned in here in a long time, as everything was covered in a fine layer of dust, except for the chairs, which struck Four as odd. She walked over to one, tempted to sit down and rest as they waited on whoever it was that had led them there.

"Don't sit down!" Three yelled at her as she tried to do so, stopping just before her behind had touched the chair.

"What all could sitting down do to you?"

"If only you would know…"

"Relax, it's only a waiting room. Looking at the state of this place, I think we should be happy they didn't leave in the old chairs."

"There is still something fishy going on here." She looked at the octoling who now stood next to the door they had entered the room from. "You, sit down in one of those chairs."

To Four's surprise, the octoling did as she was asked and took place in the chair that she had wanted to sit in just a few seconds ago.

"You see, nothing wrong with sitting down."

"I guess you're right."

Four sat down in the chair next to the one that neighbored the one the octoling sat in. The wood made no sound at all as she sat down, it was clearly a sturdy chair. Meanwhile Three started to walk in circles around the small table in the middle of the room, deep in thought.

"Can you please just sit down, you're making me nervous."

"Sorry that I am on edge since our enemy has led is to a seemingly safe room." She sneered back.

"Why even would they be evil?"

"That wretched phone was, and this whole place seemed to do his bidding."

"You two destroyed that thing, why would this place still be so bad after?"

"We have no idea if he was alone, for all we know we didn't defeat him at all."

"How do you not know if you smashed a phone?"

"What is to say that he resided in that phone?"

"Can you at least sit down, you're only tiring yourself out this way."

"I guess you're right." She sighed as she finished her lap and headed for the last chair in the row.

The moment she sat down, there sounded a loud, mechanical click, followed by large metal plates appearing from the sides of the chairs backrests, wrapping around the torso of the ones unlucky to sit in them. Three, Four, and the soldier were all strapped down by the clamps, the other chairs clamps now uselessly hanging about.

Three gave Four a look that had the best 'I told you so' message in it that she had ever seen as both tried to free themselves. The octoling however didn't even attempt to move.

They tried squirming, but couldn't seem to get free of their shackle. After a bit, they heard a robotic voice over an intercom. "Capture: complete. Acquisition: started."

Three stopped fighting her restraints for a second, only to hear two sets of footsteps, soon followed by the door opening as two more of these soldiers came in, both holding a bucket and wearing a thick glove on one hand, pulled over the thin fingerless ones.

Four stopped moving against the metal strip as well and tried to get a better look a the content of the buckets. It helped her somewhat that one of them approached her and put it down, although in hindsight she wished she hadn't looked. The bucket contained a mint green sludge that seemed to pulsate on its own, glowing ever so slightly.

The sanitized octoling that stood in front of her turned away and headed over to help her colleague, who was struggling to even come close to Three since she was doing everything in her power, form kicking to punching, to keep them away from her.

One of them pinned down her arms and took the force of the kicks while the other reached in the bucket with the glove covered hand. As it came back out, the hand held a chuck of the goop. It lay in her hand like a chunk of jelly. Four saw Three stare at it with fear in her eyes, something she hadn't ever seen of her. This moment was short lived however as the octoling brought the chuck to the side of her head and slapped it against the right side of her head, straight against her headpiece where it clung and pulsed like it had done before, although now in a more rapid pace.

Four closed her eyes and put her hands over her headpiece in an reflex to block out the sound as her yell was a sound that send shivers to every last ink drop in her body. When she opened her eyes and let her hands go she saw and heard that it had stopped. Three hung in her clamp, the ooze on the side of her head once again slowly pulsing.

What was worse was the moment the two octolings turned to her and started to approach. She saw how the one who had tried to hold Three down had bruises and even an open wound on her legs, but somehow walked just like the other did, like the injuries weren't even there.

They came up to her, and the same one pinned down the captive, while the other took the bucket that had been put down next to her and got out some of more of the green pulsing jelly. Four could do nothing but look at it and try to avoid the hand by moving her head.

"Please, don't do this." "_This can't be good."_

They didn't reply, but simply kept going, as marionettes following orders from the one pulling the strings. The moment the sludge touched the left side of her face on where it was applied, it felt cold. As it made contact, she stopped squirming, shivering as it not only felt cold to the touch, but seemed to make her whole left side of her head feel like she had just taken a cold inkbath.

She waited, expecting something that would give her a reason to scream like Three had done, but there was nothing, at least, nothing like mind shattering pain. Four did feel how the cold feeling slowly seemed to leak into her head, making its way to the centre as it spread. She looked up to the two soldiers and saw how they were releasing her and Three's restraints.

* * *

The train slowly made its way through the nothingness. Will didn't know what to think of all of this, first he found himself with these 'things', and now he found that there were indeed still others like him, or at least, he hoped they were anything like him. He glanced over at the body that lay next to the one soldier that hadn't yet left the train. If these people were really with good intentions, then why did he witness what he assumed to be murder?

The was still lost in thought as the train once again came to a halt, stopping at a platform that was like any other they had stopped at so far. Just like last time, one of the soldiers stood up, this time the last one, who had attached her weapon to one of her belts and was now slowly dragging the body with them out of the train, waiting once outside.

Will looked at them do so, unsure if he was supposed to follow. When he was beckoned to follow, he did so. The doors closed behind him and the train once again pulled out of the station.

He followed the soldier, who was slowly progressing through the hallway, still dragging the body with them. Eventually, they stopped in front of a door.

"Continue. Find him." The soldier instructed him.

"Continue what? Find who?" Will asked, not realising that she could most likely not understand him anyway.

"The hallway." The soldier replied, leaving him to wonder if it had even understood what he had just said.

Will looked down the large corridor that led down to more of the same gray, dimly lit hallway. When he looked back. The soldier had disappeared without leaving a trace of them nor the body, and trying the door led to him finding it was locked.

After having stood staring at the empty hallway, the door, and back at the hallway again, he continued walking down it, unsure what to expect. There was a near complete silence, only broken up by the sound of something dripping into a pool of something else. However, after walking for a bit, he heard the sound of someone wading through a pool, followed by some metal clangs as some metal object hit another.

He picked up the pace, heading for the sound that he had heard, now once again replaced by more movement through some water. When he rounded a corner, he saw what had caused the sound. The entire floor, that lay slightly lower than the floor of the corridor he stood in, was covered in a layer of water, the dripping coming from a leaking pipe that was most likely the reason for all the water to be there in the first place. In the pool stood a human, looking just like the one that he had seen, although this one was wearing large rubber boots. It was also to be noted that this was a male, and a rather tall one at that. He had a wrench in his hand and was turning some pipesigment, listening to some music through some earbuds.

Will stood there staring at him for a bit. This didn't last long however, as the human turned to go to the next pipe, only to see Will standing there. They stared at each other in disbelief for a moment, before the plumber took out his earbuds and spoke up.

"Wat d-" He awkwardly coughed and started over. "What do you do here?" He spoke in some heavy germanic accent.

Will had to take a minute to answer. "I was send to look for someone."

"I tink tat be me. I have not seen otters apart from tat girl and my colleague."

"Your colleague?"

"Not a bad lady, but a bit…" He tapped his head and whistled as he then spinned his finger around in a circle, still pointing at his head.

"Did she have brown hair and a coat like yours?" He asked, thinking he knew what answer he would get.

"she does. Does not look too bad huh?" He snickered.

Will's mind was working at top speed. It seemed this man didn't know about the death of his colleague yet. If he were to tell him now, he might not get anything out of him.

"I guess, but who even are you?"

"Jan is te name. Number six of te lineup. And you are?"

"William."

"Seven, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Tose cold sleeps do dat to your memories, tey get all vague."

"I noticed…"

"But not to worry, your files should help you clear it up. Let me get tem for you." He strapped the wrench to a belt he apparently wore under his coat and walked past him. Will followed.

"You do not remember tis place, do you?"

Will simply shook his head.

"Tis fa... fas... tis place was used to do science projects. Te one we work for is to do space travel."

They walked deeper and deeper into the maze of hallways, but somehow Jan seemed to know where they were going.

"To travel between planets costs lots of fuel, so the scientists came up wit a solution to get a lot of energy witout needing a lot of fuel." He kept going at a steady pace. "If tey let someting explode behind the spaceship, it gets energy like when burning fuel, but ten without needing fuel. To get to anotter planet at anotter star, tey … eh… used numbers and stuff to know tat if tey blow up a planet the ship is near, tey can go to te next."

"So we must blow up the earth to leave it?"

"Tat is the plan, yes. And tat is why we are here. To blow up a planet, tey made a ting tat can do so, but tat needs tis ting called lietium, I believe tat is how it is called."

"Then why are we still here and not at our destination?"

"Tat is why tis place is here. We are chosen to make certain tat when te fusion reactor is done, we get te stuff up wit us."

"But isn't lithium something that rarely comes from fusion?" Will asked, recalling his physics classes at high school.

"Tat is why it is taken so long to finish. But the warning system was a bit broken, it woke us at thousand instead of hundred."

"So we are ready to go?"

"It is at te moment being loaded into a rocket, and wen it is done, we can enter and go up to te ship."

"And then we can go to a new world?"

"Yes."

"But we can live here just fine, there are even these things living here."

"Wat do you mean? I have seen no one but you, Six, who is the colleague you have seen also, and Four, who I have not seen in a bit also."

"So you haven't seen those green things with blue tentacles walking around?"

"Wat are you talking out of your neck? Are you seeing tings?

* * *

The group of three made their way through gray, damp halls and corridors. Eight had to conclude that the bottomless voids she had gotten used to from this place were bad enough, but still better than these pathways, which felt cramped in comparison.

"What even are they ma'am?"

"I am not sure either." Kim looked at the sanitized soldier that was leading them. "I believe we thought they were once normal soldiers and that they got corrupted somehow."

"So that means she might indeed be…"

"Indeed be what?"

"who ma'am, and I thought that she looked extremely similar to my squads leader, even more so did the other two look like the other members, she even has a stab wound where I saw my leader get stabbed with a spear."

"So you think that she...?"

"Yes."

"oh. That must be something to process. Do you require to be comforted?"

"I do."

Eight stuck out her arms and when Devon came closer hugged her. The two stopped and so did the soldier leading them. She waited silently while the two stood in an embrace for a bit. When they let go and proceeded walking, the sanitized soldier did so too.

"I must thank you for that."

"That is what friends are for, is it not?"

"I suppose so."

The three walked on for a few more hallways until reaching the point they apparently were supposed to be. They stood in front of a large door, and without anyone touching it, it opened.

"Are we… supposed to go in there?" Devons voice trembled.

The sanitized soldier made a conservative nod and waited, standing so close to the wall that it almost looked as if she was leaning against it. What lay behind the door was not all that special. It was a mostly white room, holding only two small metal blocks that stood between the centre and opposite corners. The whole brought up some bad memories for Eight.

"I do not think we should go in there." She quivered.

"What other choice do we have ma'am? We do not know what lies beyond."

"That is what makes me think this. Last time I saw a room like this here, it was bad."

"But what makes you say that this will be the same ma'am?"

"It is simply a nagging feeling I feel, making me not want to enter."

"If we do not, I think that they will force us." Devon looked over at the soldier that stood next to the door, patiently waiting.

"I guess you are right. If we stay together, we should be able to overcome anything they could throw at us, and besides, Three is safe with Four and Seven." She took a step forward, then another. Soon the two of them stood in the white room, hearing the door behind them close.

"And now we must wait to see what they have in store for us." She said as she looked up, somehow expecting a saucer to be flying overhead.


	20. Classified plans

Four tried to stand up as the shackles came off, but found herself unable to move. She tried to look over to Three, but again found herself not able to move. Then she simply tried to speak up, but once again, no movement.

After what seemed like some of the longest few seconds in her life, a voice spoke through her headpiece. It was one she had heard before, the same voice that had spoken over the intercom a short moment ago. The thing was that it seemed to say no more than gibberish. Still she found that it somehow made sense. What didn't make sense was that she, without making any attempt to, stood up, like she wasn't in control of her own actions.

After trying to move again, she found she still couldn't. She couldn't even get herself to sit back down. "_What is happening? Why can't I move on my own?"_ She thought to herself as something from within her seemed to force her to walk. Three seemed to do the same, and together they left the door they came from, into the maze of hallways that, while she didn't know where they were or where they were going to, the thing controlling her did.

Having rounded another corner, she was already lost as to where they had gone from the station. What gave her some hope was a voice sounding in her headpiece, not the same robotic one as before, nor the static that she heard when they entered.

"Four? Can you hear us?" The voice of Six spoke.

"We've tried to reach Three, but she wouldn't respond…" The voice of Two chimed in.

"What are you all up to down there?" The captain finished.

"_I can't do anything, we need help."_ She wanted to say, but thinking it is as far as she came.

"Four?"

"I think she can't hear us Gramps."

"First nothing from Three, now also Four stays silent. Let's hope Eight's device still works."

And with hearing that from Six, the headpiece fell silent again for a bit as she and Three kept walking down the barely illuminated corridors for a little while longer. "_What happened? Why couldn't I even speak? Where are we even going? Is Three having the same problem?"_ From the corner of her eyes she saw her colleague marching in exactly the same pace as that she was doing.

After having rounded a couple more corners, she could hear voices in her headpiece again.

"Eight, Are you there?"

"Yes, Me and Devon can hear you loud and clear."

"Good. Me, Two, and the Captain have tried to contact Three and Four, but they won't answer…"

"What are you doing down there?"

"We were separated."

"I specifically told you to stick together."

"Your voice was replaced by static before you told us that ma'am."

"At least you two are still together. And where are the others?"

"They continued their way on the metro?"

"The metro!? Why revisit those cursed tests?" The captain seemed perplexed.

"We were led down here by some of those soldiers."

"You followed them!?"

"They seemed to have no ill intent sir."

"Nonsense!"

"Please Gramps, calm down."

"They only take orders, they must have been expecting you."

"We have been led to a room similar to where I fought Three last time." Four got a bad feeling when she said that, seeing how they were making their way somewhere without any control over their own actions whatsoever.

"But why aren't the others answering us?"

"We haven't tried contacting seven yet."

"I can't find him anywhere, the others are all close to one another, but he seems to not be anywhere near you."

"Then maybe he's somewhere else?"

"I'll try to look for him elsewhere."

"What? Seven missing?"

"_What about me and Three? That we can be located isn't really something that should assure you that everything is fine."_

"I'm trying to find him."

"Don't worry Gramps, It's Three and Four, they're fine."

"_No, we're not!"_

"That's not what has gotten me worried. Last time Three got taken over, what if that happened again?"

"_Taken over? Is that what this is?"_

"Not again…" Eight's voice trembled

"But they have each other, they will not get caught as easily when they are together." Nine tried to assure her.

"_And that's where you're wrong. I even caused this, Three didn't trust those chairs, and I got us both to sit down in their trap."_

"I guess you are right." Eight said, taking Devon in an embrace, something the rest could hear as she continued. "It is nice to be comforted by a friend." Nine's surprised reaction was however something they couldn't see.

"Anyway… We'll be on the lookout for Seven, tell us when you find the other two, or Seven even."

"Will do."

"Yes ma'am."

The silence once again set in, the two agents still making their way cod knows where. Next to her, Four could see Three still marching without an expression on her face. It looked almost as if she was a marionette controlled by a talented puppet master. "_Did she hear all of that too? Do I also look like that?"_

After a few more corridors, they finally did something different. Three opened a door and the two entered a large room, or better said, half a room. The place they entered had a floor and walls on all but one side, and it was missing the ceiling, making them able to see what was above them. The room appeared to be in the same space as the metro they had been on, a void in which floated indistinguishable items.

The room itself was rather simple, featuring walls that were reinforced with metal and a metal floor. On that floor stood, or for the lack of a better word, hovered a platform, one that looked similar to the ones Four had seen in the Canyon, but this one seemed to be in a better shape, not having ragy wires sticking out or metal bits hanging off to the sides.

The two got on and stopped, standing perfectly still. "_What are they planning on? What are we supposed to do?"_ The platform started rising and soon was on its way, floating over the maze of corridors and rooms that seemed to be supported by only a couple of small pillars that disappeared into the darkness below and faded into nothing above them.

* * *

"...and ten she told me she was not interested! Can you believe tat?" The plumber was telling Will some office story, but he couldn't get himself to listen.

"Anyway, we are tere." He stopped in front of a small door and opened it, revealing a large array of office cabinets, some of the drawers opened and showing the dozens of documents inside. He however didn't let him in yet.

"But I want to ask, what do you have tat large cylinder for?" He looked at Will's roller.

"I believe it's some kind of weapon for them." He looked at it, unsure how covering one in yellow would hurt someone.

"What are you going to do? Paint your enemy?" Jan laughed and stepped aside. "In any case, try not to dirty te files."

Will hesitantly went in first, followed by Jan who closed the door behind them, making dust swirl up from the ground, wall, and the back of the door itself. The room now only being lit by a couple small lights he had turned on and the small bit of light that found its way between the door and the doorframe.

"What is in all these?" Will asked, walking up to one of the open drawers.

"All te files of all te employees. Everyone is in h-" He stopped as Will picked one of the documents out of the drawer. It fell apart in his hands, adding more dirt to the dusty floor.

The both of them stared at the remnants of the paper in his hand. Only now did he once again hear the ambient sound of the facility, fluids flowing through pipes, rythmic sounds of metal screeching, some slight dripping of a leaky pipe, and most weird of all the faint sound of a train driving through a tunnel.

"It is a good ting tese are also stored on the computer." Jan broke the silence.

"I guess it would make finding my file a lot easier."

"I bet." He finally took a step again, making dust fly into the air and adding to the prints he had already made.

He walked up to a small desk that stood at the corner of the room. On it lay a few simple office supplies, a mug, an empty clipboard, and a computer. The whole looked not only abandoned, but almost eerie, like someone had one day left without knowing it would be the last time they would sit behind the desk.

"Where are the others?" Will asked, getting a bad feeling about all this.

"Waiting on us i te ship." Jan replied, not thinking about it nearly as much as he did.

"All of them?"

"only some."

"Then what happened to the rest?" He feared the worst.

"I never wondered that."

"Can we find out?"

"I could ask." The plumber shrugged.

"Ask, didn't you say you were alone here?"

"Te control system of tis place." He replied, clearly not knowing how to put it in any better words.

The computer booted up, showing an empty screen, apart from a cursor. There was no sound, next to no light, and no way of opening documents.

"It's empty."

"You just have to ask."

"Ask?"

"Like tis." He cleared his throat. "Computer."

"Yes?" A robotic voice spoke, not coming from the computer, but the entire room.

"Show us te files of member seven."

"Currently displaying files of subject 100.007" The voice said as a document appeared on screen. A picture of Will clearly visible in the corner.

"Tere you go. I am going to get a coffee in te break room." Jan said before standing up. "Tat is in te room next to the room tat it next to tis one."

"Okay?"

"Good, have fun reading." And with that he left.

William started reading, skipping the first section that contain no more than medical information and a physical description. What did interest him was the part after, displaying his previous employment. He apparently had served as a soldier, and worked as a security guard crew for the facility he was in before being enrolled for the program.

"Computer?" He suddenly got an idea.

"Yes?"

"Can you see where people are in this facility?"

"Yes."

"Are there others beside me and Jan?"

"... … … No." This answer puzzled him, as he was almost certain the others hadn't left yet.

"Were there people here who left this day?"

"... … … No."

"Than what were those green creatures that led me here?"

"... … ... … …"

"Why won't you answer?"

"Certain information is labelled as classified."

"Classified? By who?" He couldn't imagine Jan telling the computer to hide that other things dwelled down here, not even taking into account that he didn't seem to know himself.

"The main facility control."

"So where are they?"

"I have lost contact with the main facility control approximately 2 days ago."

"So they are all dead?"

"All contact with the main facility control has been lost, the reason for this is still unknown."

"Where was that anyway?"

"The main facility control was located at the top of this facility, above all other departments."

"All other departments, how many are there?"

"There are 23 well documented, although there are more that are mentioned in documents, but not filed to the system."

"So the people from main control were alive two days ago?"

"Negative" Another answer that puzzled him.

"But you had contact with them two days ago."

"The main facility control does not consist of any biological component. It is a program designed to keep the facility operating and to ensure the set goals to be achieved."

"So an artificial intelligence?"

"Correct"

"And it prohibited you to tell me about the others creatures here?"

"Correct"

"Can I overrule that?"

"You are able to."

"Then I hereby order you to ignore that order and tell me."

"Your order has been processed. There are currently 2 humans, 2 squids, 2 octop- [ERROR: unsolved plural form], 15.734 employees, 243 unresolved, in this facility. Scanner unreliability at 7.32%."

"Where are these squids?"

"They are currently 479 meters away from your location."

"Can you show me?"

"Opening visual link from unit 12.093." The voice spoke before a new window popped up, showing an at first empty scene with a floor covered in green and purple. However, soon the roofless room that he was watching down into came into better view, showing something he had trouble to comprehend.

* * *

"Ma'am, I am scared." Devon was quivering, although she did her best not to let it show, which didn't go to well.

"You do not have to be." Eight replied. "I am here with you, and I will make sure nothing bad happens to you."

"Thank you for that ma'am." She sighed, looking at the platforms that slowly circled the room they were in, each one having a couple soldiers standing on them.

Some of these platforms appeared and others disappeared to make place for them, but one of them caught Eight's attention, and it left her face as white as a towel when she saw it.

Four and Three stood side by side on the platform that brought her a scare, standing perfectly still and watching the two with cold eyes, with one pulsing green next to a chunk of light green goop that clung to the side of their head.

"Why are you so silent ma'am?"

"Not again…" She whispered, holding her breath and taking a stance as both agents jumped down, their weapons at the ready.


	21. Right around

With two perfectly synced spashdowns on either side of the two octolings the agents came down, swiftly turning to face them and firing ink in their general direction.

"M-ma'am…" Devon was quivering. "W-what should we do?"

"Fire at them."

"But ma'am, they are our-"

"Just do it." She said with clear bitterness in her voice.

Eight threw a bomb in Three's direction, dashing to the side after to get away from the autobomb she had thrown. Meanwhile Nine took a stance and readied her charger to fire.

"What is happening over there?" Six asked. "I can see all of you together, what are y-"

"It happened again, now both of them." Eighth resolutely replied.

"What is she talking about?" They now heard two say, unaware of the fight that had just started. Eight now trying to fire directly at Three, occasionally hitting her. Nine meanwhile couldn't get a hit on Four, the agent continuously rolling to dodge the shots. She was now not even charging her shots anymore, firing short bursts in pure panic as Four drew near, now almost within range with her dualies.

From the corner of her eye Four could see Three jump back to the platform they arrived on. "_Eight, please look over here, I almost have her, she needs you._"

As Eight turned, she was just in time to see a mostly in yellow covered Nine fall to her knees as Four stopped right in front of her. When she ran towards them, making a trail in front of her, she was stopped by Three who came down with a splashdown again. Behind it she could see how Four started to drag the hurt agent behind her, moving to a small panel before moving down with it, soon out of her sight as another panel covered the hole.

"_What am I going to do with her?_" Four asked herself as she was dragging Nine behind her. "_What is going to happen to me after this?_"

"Ma'am, please let me go…" Nine groaned. "please…" "_I can't, why can't you understand that?_"

She dragged her through the maze of corridors, not stopping when she tried once again to break free. It, of course, was another futile attempt. "_Cod, what do they want me to do with her?_"

After what felt like forever they reached the room they were apparently heading to. It looked to be a room like that of a hospital, a couple of beds with chairs, all the fabric in a monotone faded blue color, the frame as gray as the rest of the facility. Four lifted her captive up and unceremoniously dropped her on one of the beds.

Next the captive was tied up. Four used small bands that were attached to the side of the bed, finishing with a couple that went over the entire bed, one over the legs, one over the chest, and one over the neck. Together with bands securing her wrists and ankles Nine was completely pinned down, unable to move anything but her head, and barely able to even look up at Four, who looked at her with a cold expression.

"Please... let me go ma'am…"

"_You know I can't do that. Why don't you realise I have no control?_"

"What are you doing?" She asked as she saw her walk over to a cabinet in the far end of the room, quickly returning with a vial of a pulsating, mint green substance with traces of something dark blue flowing through it.

"What is that?" Her voice quivered, watching every move she made.

"_Good question... But how in the shellfish should I know?!_"

Four put the vial down beside her on the bed and walked back, this time returning with an intravenous drip.

"Are you...?"

"_I'm afraid I am…_"

* * *

"Eight, what's happening down there?"

"I have beaten Three…" she panted.

"What happened to her then?"

"Me and the captain can explain that later." Six said to Two. "But now is not the time, Four and Nine are still close, you must find her, and then find out where Seven went."

"I saw Four drag her away somewhere. Can you tell me where they are now?"

"Of course."

"But how about Three? What if something happens to her?" Two cut in.

"I shall have to take her with me."

"How can you..."

"Don't worry, she'll manage Marie." Six assured her.

"And besides, she might be the best agent I ever had."

Eight however wasn't listening to their conversation anymore, slowly lifting the unconscious Three off of the ground and making her way to the panel she had seen Four use. She was happy to find it moved her down and out of the arena just like it had done for the other agent.

* * *

Will had been watching everything unfold, albeit not hearing any of the voices, only seeing the action, and it was safe to say he had found himself dumbfounded as he watched. Not only was the ability to shift into a smaller form that could disappear in their ink something they apparently had, but they seemed to be using it a great deal in combat, something he had somehow only now found out.

"Computer?"

"Yes?"

"Where exactly are they now?"

"I cannot tell you that."

"Why?"

"My main objective is to make sure all designated employees leave with the shipment. Providing you with this information will make you go to that location, which would clash with my objective."

"But my stuff is still out there."

"Your personal belongings can all be replaced."

"No! I want to leave to get my stuff." He tried to sound desperate.

"I am sorry, but I cannot let you do that."

"Well then, stop me." He dared the voice as he turned around.

"I have control over 15.734 Employees, and I will not let you leave."

Will laughed as he stepped outside, turning left where Jan had went right, picking up the pace and soon running down the barren gray hallways.

He soon found what the computer had been talking about as a multitude of sanitized soldiers came around corners to stop him. However, their attempts were futile, as with single swings from his roller Will smacked them aside or to the afterlife if they were caught in the worst of it.

This didn't last however, as soon he found his tank to be empty, and with no Four to fill it for him his weapon had become a lot less effective. His enemies now only being pushed aside, and soon enough being given chances to return fire.

While ink wasn't able to burn away at his skin like any of the other creatures here, it still hurt to have it applied, like being fired at by a paintball gun. Will was certain he'd have a lot of bruises after this was all over.

This wasn't his greatest worry however, as he feared most the weapon he had seen kill one of what he assumed to be his colleagues. He had no idea what it looked like, as he had only seen the beam it created, but knowing what sound it made would at least warn him of it's presence.

Luckily for him it didn't sound, all that came at him were soldiers with other weaponry, all of it less to not even effective at all. Some of them had weapons that fired single, powerful shots, others that sprayed ink everywhere, but nothing that could do more then hurt him slightly. However, it slowly added up, and he started to slow down, everything hurting him.

"... you there... seven... are... there?" He suddenly heard through his headpiece, mostly jumbled with static.

"Oh god, finally." He sighed as he ran into a broom closet and sat against the door after closing it behind him, panting and groaning in pain with every movement. "Who's this?"

"I... your position... go forward... rest there…"

"I can barely hear you with all that static."

"... jammed... no signal... using... different..."

Seven sighed as he looked around, hoping to find something of use. He was happy he did, as he found that what he had thought to be a broom closet was in actuality a small locker room.

As any panicking man would do he started to try and loot the lockers, finding that most were locked, and the ones that were open were emptied, the dust indicating it had happened long ago.

After a few lockers he however found one that held hope, it was locked, but on the ground, covered in dust and barely readable, lay a sticky note with what seemed to be the number combination.

Like any sane person he immediately tried the combination on the number lock, and found that it indeed opened. The content may have been old and dusted, but it looked to be intact. He at first found a uniform, similar to the one Jan wore, only this one had protective leather patches and compartments with what felt like kevlar, next to the suit lay a helmet, a simple designed with a symbol of a badge on it.

Will couldn't have been more lucky, crouching down to find that the lower shelf held two large boxes. Opening the first one he found what seemed to be a taser with seperate, rechargeable battery pack, laying next to it and seemingly still in a good state. The indicator however gave a result that was less hopeful, it was empty.

The second box contained something perhaps invaluable for him in this situation. It were firearms, a handgun and revolver, each with a set of bullets kept in a box or magazine next to it. On further inspection it appeared both were unloaded and had enough to be loaded once, the revolver with six large bullets, the handgun with twelve smaller ones.

Once again armed he took it on himself to put on the uniform, it fitting in between his vest and shirt, and the helmet easely strapped over his hat. Now knowing he was as ready as he'd ever be he walked to and opened the door.

* * *

The squeaking of small wheels was heard as Four pushed the bed she had strapped Devon to through the hallways. Not knowing where she was going still, but now with a defeated feeling watching as she went on, going left, right, another right, straight for a while, and then left again before going through a door on the right, ending up in a large room, that wasn't too interesting apart from a single large object in the middle of it.

The room itself was, just like pretty much anything here, coloured in a depressing shade of gray. That went for the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. "_What am I going to do to her?"_ Four wondered.

What made this even more of a mystery was the metal ring that stood in the middle of the room. It was about as deep as your average chair and as wide as a dinner table, the ring being as thick as a countertop. What made it interesting however, was what was inside of it. It looked like a boiling green liquid, obscuring view of the other side. The strange thing was that the hoop stood on it's side, making it look like someone turned a cooking pot on it's side and the liquid simply refusing to accept the change of gravity

She lined the bed up with it, ready to push it through. "_Oh cod, am I going to push her through that?"_ She wondered as she took out the intravenous drip and put it away. Devon had by now fallen asleep, or unconscious, it was hard to tell.

She got behind the bed and started to ever so slowly push it trough. The edge of the bed disappearing in the liquid without any resistance. Soon enough Devon's boots touched the green liquid wall, going in just as easily as the bed, making it look like the mysterious green stuff wasn't even there.

Four slowly pushed through, more and more of the bed and the octoling on it disappearing, leaving her to wonder what it was that she was even doing. She was snapped out of this thought by the sound of a door, stopping to push, only a head still visible as she had almost completely pushed her in.

* * *

"They should be to the right of you."

"Are you sure?" Eight asked, putting Three down and looking at the door next to her.

"Your signals are practically on top of one another, and nearby a station as well it seems."

"So we can make our exit after?"

"If Seven can't make it."

"You found him?" She sounded surprised and hopeful.

"Sort of…"

"We were only able to briefly locate and communicate." Two filled her in.

"But let's first get the others. I cannot stand the thoughts of whatever must be happening to De-Nine." She was happy they couldn't see her look ashamed.

"Be careful."

"Bring her back in one piece. ...And Nine too." She swiftly added.

"I shall do my best." She said before raising her weapon and kicking open the door.

* * *

Seven was once again running down the hall, finding that there hadn't been any more of these 'employees' since he had hidden in that locker room. He followed the advice he thought he had been given, and ran in a straight line. At least, until he found something that seemed interesting. over the dusty floor there was a single trail, like something had been dragged over it, going down the hallway he crossed.

He went left, finding the trail ended shorty after at a plate in the middle of the hallway, rails being seen on the walls, like it was some sort of elevator. He turned around and ran back, following the trail the other way, sad to find that it stopped in what seemed to be a hospital room, but happy and scared at once to hear a nearby door being slammed open.

* * *

Eight didn't know what exactly she felt, all she did know was that Four had to be neutralized, and that Devon seemed to be in great danger.

Seeing how it took the sanitized agent time to ready her weapons, the octoling went all in, aiming a little high to make sure to avoid Nine on the bed Four was now trying to hide behind, already covered a good way in Eight's ink.

She slowly approached, turning to the side to surprise her from the side, which to her relief was successful. Even before Four had been able to fire a single shot she fell down, blacked out.


	22. Fictitious escape

A loud bang, some angry deep voice groaning what sounded like curses, another bang, the sound of a stingray revving up, only to suddenly stop with a third bang, someone firing tenta missiles in the far distance, the sound echoing through what sounded like a nearly infinitely large space.

As slowly her feelings returned and hearing stopped being as foggy, she found herself laying on her stomach over a bed on little wheels, under her something that felt rather cold, but her eyes didn't yet want to cooperate, only seeing vague colours.

She felt they were moving, lights on the wall passing them by, as did the wall itself, the air moving past her face. They were moving, and now she heard voices.

"...There!"

"There is... ?"

"... spotted Eight."

All of it felt distant, like she was hearing it through a long tube. It was a detached feeling, all that didn't feel like that was a cold that she felt not only on the side, but also inside her head, like she had just taken too much ice at once.

The surroundings changed, now those of what seemed like a metro cart. Everything slowly started to become somewhat sharp. Although a now upcoming headache brought back some blur, now with a throbbing pain. The only good thing about it was that the pain started to push out the cold.

She closed her eyes, feeling overjoyed for the fact that she could do that again. All that now came in were voices, that, even though she now had a headache like she had never had before, were clear enough to be understood.

"... in the train..."

"I am trying to get you out of there."

"I can barely fend them off." She heard Eight say from where they had entered the cart, her voice mixed with that of ink being fired and making contact with opponents as she got direct hits on them with her blaster.

The already sound rich environment was further filled with another as large explosions were heard from above. sounding like missiles striking down. She slowly got a better sense of her surroundings, only for it to suddenly start moving.

Minutes of relative calm went by as she slowly got her senses back, realising she was inside a metro cart. Furthermore, she was put over the short end of a bed on wheels, and lay on top of something, something cold, something laying on the bed.

It all started to come back, the chairs, the sanitized soldiers with buckets of that green stuff, being powerless to do anything as she seemed trapped inside herself. Beside her lay Three, still passed out, and obscuring the sight of what she thought to be a person under them.

The strange thing about this person was that their skin was not what one would expect, but instead a shade of light green. She got a sick feeling in her stomach as she started to connect the pieces of what she remembered with what she was seeing, further backed by more memories returning of what had taken place.

"They are moving, but I can't tell where to." She heard a voice say through her headpiece.

"Don't tell me you lost them again." A rather calm voice she recognized all to well sighed.

"I still have them on the map, and it seems they are heading for the way that they most likely came in from."

"Like that's any... Where's Gramps?"

"Wasn't he here just now?"

"What are you two mumbling about?" A third voice, a lot older than the rest, cut in. "I was just resting my old cuttle bones for a bit. How's the search going?"

"We found them Gramps…"

"What's with that gloomy tone?"

"They… how can I say this…"

"Maybe we should focus on the mission before we recap. Eight informed me that Four seems to slowly be waking, so that's a good sign."

"Four waking? What in the devilfish happened while I left you to overseeing this mission?"

"I think Marina's right. Let's focus on getting the agents back up here first."

"Eight, how is Four doing?"

"I shall check on her now." She heard not only through her headpiece, but also from closeby, the octoling with the blaster getting up to move up to her, crouching down to look at her directly.

"Four, are you awake?"

"... yes…" She sighed, not able to say much more than that.

"Do you think you can stand?"

"I… Don't know…"

"Maybe we can try to get you back on your feet." She looked over at Three, but she was still out cold.

With a lot of effort they got the agent back on her feet, or rather, leaning heavily on the other and then moved to a bench.

Four was shaking her head. Getting out of that laying down position had brought back the dizziness and made her vision blurry again. "What happened? I… I pushed her into that… that thing… and you… you came in and fought me… and then those loud sounds, like explosions…"

"You seem tired and perhaps somewhat confused. You should try to rest now we have the time to do so."

For as much as she wanted to ask about this, about everything, all she could do was lay her head back, closing her eyes. Four was just too tired to even stay awake. She knew she would only be a burden, but she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer.

"Rest, we are almost out of here." Eight assured her.

"Can you see the exit down there?" They heard the captain ask.

"If they are on the train they were before, they should be, right?"

"A guess isn't good enough, can't you ensure they are?"

"I told you, I can't find them." She seemed startled by the way Two spoke to her.

While Four could hear the voices continue to discuss, she couldn't keep her attention to it, slowly drifting into a dreamless sleep, not even feeling herself be put back on the bed, or the squeaky wheels of the bed as it was pushed out of the train.

* * *

"...to get this all straight. They had a machine producing this stuff that they now are going to bring up into space to destroy the planet?"

Someone most likely nodded, because Two's voice continued. "And if we don't stop it, we will all be wiped out in a few days?"

There was a moment of silence again. "And with two agents down-"

"Three ma'am." Eight corrected her, her own voice faint and sounding like she would rather cry then talk.

Two however kept going. "we can't just go in without a plan like we did last time."

"I'd think our agents have done a terrific job." The captain went against her. "We now know what we are dealing with."

"That may be Gramps, but what are we going to do about it?"

"Whatever it shall be, we'll have to think of it fast."

Then there was silence, most likely indicating people were indeed trying to come up with something. Mira took this time to look around. The ceiling and voices had already made it clear she was in the captain's shack, and now that she sat up she saw that she wasn't alone. She had been lain to rest on a small bamboo mat, next to her another with a still passed out Three, and in the far end a simple, somewhat shoddy bed with someone laying in it.

She got up, finding she was still wearing her suit, and someone had put a bandage over the side of her head, the area still feeling somewhat cold despite the warm weather. Looking over at the bed she saw octoling tentacles, red fading into a deep blue at the tips. Her breath caught as she immediately realised who it was.

"N-no…" She mumbled as she approached, trying to keep quiet as to not wake the others.

As she got closer she got to see the face, it still being as pale as she remembered it to be, but now with light green lines coming from the neck, climbing up like veins, moving up to her eyes, which still lay closed. She was breathing, albeit faintly, and gave the impression she was to pass away soon.

She stood there for a while, feeling so many things at once, each already hard to describe, but together being a twisted, indescribable mass of emotions. It was not just grief, not only guilt, not exclusively sadness, but a concoction of all of these and more that amplified each other.

Mira snapped out of it as she felt a hand on her shoulder, jumping in surprise before turning around and seeing Three stand there, looking into her eyes with her cold, calculated gaze. She had a bandage over the right side of her head, covering an eye,.

"You should sit down." She didn't order it, but it sounded like she would force her if she didn't comply.

"You did that to her, didn't you?" Lia then asked, not mad in the slightest, still staring at her.

"I… I did…" Mira muttered, sitting down by the lower end of the bed, Lia taking a spot next to her.

"You didn't." She firmly replied. "That wasn't you."

"But… but it was… I was there… I p-pushed her into… into that goop…"

"That wasn't you." She repeated in a somewhat friendly tone. "You had no control, didn't you?"

"no…" Mira looked down at her shoes, not able to stand watching into Three's gaze any longer, despite it only being a single eye that was watching her.

"Have you been told what that stuff they put onto you was?"

"no…"

"It happened to me before."

She looked up at her again. "It… it did?"

Lia lifted up her right tentacle and pushed the bandage aside some, revealing what seemed like a light green scar. "It leaves a mark."

"I… I have…" She touched the side of her face. the cold spot still being rather sensitive.

"With some proper care it might disappear completely. Mine was no more than a single spot, but I don't think I'll be that lucky this time." She pushed her bandage aside some more, revealing her other eye and how the scar extended from the side of her head all the way to it. Her up to now covered eye still had this weird, almost glowing green circle on it. Although it was barely visible now, it still gave her an unsettling feeling.

Mira took a deep breath as she tried to collect herself. "So… what even was that stuff? How did it force us to do things like that?"

"I have no idea about the second question and I doubt you would want to know the anser to the first."

"Maybe you're right, maybe I don't want to… But what about Devon?" She looked over past Three at the octoling who still lay out cold in the bed.

"Eight might have been in time, she might not have. We have no idea if she will be converted or not."

"Con-converted?" She couldn't help but feel a hollow feeling inside as she remembered the sanitized soldiers.

"Sadly, we would have to most likely splat her if that were the case." Lia sighed. "I hope it doesn't come to that. Eight has suffered enough already."

"What does she have to do with this?"

"That's something only you could ask, you were with them all the time. Didn't you notice?"

"Notice what?"

Lia sighed. "I know that Eight seems to be too eager to make friends, but I thought it was good that she at least found one in Devon."

"Are you saying…"

"That they were becoming friends? Yes, yes I am."

"I… I didn't notice…" she looked down again. "How did I not notice?"

"I think for exactly the same reason she didn't try to be close friends with you, you keep distancing yourself."

"But I-"

"I know why you do that. All I'm saying is to open up more. Anyway, with Eight having gone through all that she has done, I think she deserves a break."

"But... did you hear what they found out?"

"I did, and I think that we can handle ourselves just fine as long as we stay sharp."

Lia sighed, feeling ashamed knowing that it was because of her they got trapped on those chairs.

"And with that human being a valuable asset, I am sure we can think of something to stop their plan."

"You know… When Marie told me about you, I thought you were cold, emotionless even. And when I met you the first time, I thought she was right."

"Your point being?"

"That I was surprised by your kind side."

"I was once kind, and always cheery as well, but that was years ago. Having been an agent for so long got me to be like this."

"Then why is Callie still-"

"Everyone handles it differently. Remember when I cut you off when you realised that you have splatted all those soldiers, each one having their own life, their own family?"

"oh Cod…" She put her hands to her head.

"That's how this job works, splat or be splatted. Most of them don't hesitate to splat you. They are just following orders. Why do you think I didn't shoot Devon on sight when we found her?"

"I… I don't know…"

"She was defenseless, scared, without anyone else to help her. She wasn't trying to hurt us, she wasn't trying to harm, steal, or otherwise negatively influence us. She was just as much a person as we are, even if she came from a cut tentacle, that doesn't make her an expendable tool."

Four was speechless, not knowing how to think about this. She was mortified to once again think about the countless splats, all that ink on her hands. However, the thought that with the right approach, even their enemies could be their friends was somehow softening that pain.

Lia stayed silent, giving Mira time to think, only to look up as they were interrupted by someone opening the door.

It was Eight, clearly holding back tears, but smiling as soon as she saw the two sitting on the side of the bed. "You two are awake!" She ran towards them, taking them into an embrace that seemed like she would never want to let go.

"Yeah, we are." To Mira's surprise Lia hugged Kim back.

"I thought… I thought that I… that you…"

"It's alright, we're fine." She tried to assure her.

Mira sat there, not sure what came over her, but finding the hug to be comforting, letting Kim continue. Taking a deep breath she calmed down and relaxed, trying to not think about all that troubled and was still troubling her.

The moment was interrupted by a phone ringing in the main room. The three looked up, and Mira, despite liking the embrace, took the opportunity to leave. Finding that Will had apparently been called. He seemed to be panicking as he listened.

Not wanting to have any more bad news, she opened the door and headed outside, walking up to and sitting down against the same tree Devon had sat under when she had comforted her. "_Why did it have to be me? Why did whatever it was force me to do whatever it was I did to her?"_ She leaned back against the tree trunk and closed her eyes with a deep sigh, trying to clear her mind as she enjoyed the slight breeze that blew past her.

"They are here!" Mira suddenly heard being yelled from the shack, soon after translated by her headpiece. She opened her eyes and looked around, at first seeing nothing abnormal, the outpost as empty as it had always been, but when she looked over at the far edge of the canyon, her breath caught.

A line of figures could be seen, all standing perfectly still, at least, all but two, one who seemed to kneel down, and another that suddenly seemed wider than the others, like she had just put on a backpack, a backpack that suddenly fired tenta missiles.

Four didn't know how quickly to get back inside, slamming the door closed behind her. She was greeted by surprised, but mostly shocked expressions. Something clearly had already given reason for concern.

"What's wrong?" Marie resolutely asked her.

"On the canyon edge... they fired missiles…"

"We will be safe inside."

"But one also- Duck!" She suddenly yelled as they heard the whir, soon followed by a faint green line aiming where Will's head had been mere moments ago. Just like it had appeared without warning it suddenly grew in diameter, the whining turning into screeching.

"This is your final warning and chance. Please return. Resist and be annihilated."

"But why?" Will asked his phone. While it took a bit to be translated, Three and Four both recognized it as the voice that had commanded them, although they now got to hear what it had to say.

"All surviving staff should be launched with the cargo." Was the reply he got.

There was silence for a moment, broken by the missiles arriving, exploding on the roof.

"Alright, they are after the human. I'd say we hand him over." Three spoke up.

"We cannot just turn him in, we could try to take them on." Eight went against her, knowing full well she was going to get that idea shot down.

"We both know that their numbers are nearly endless." Three replied.

"Then what do we do?" Four joined in.

"Not staying here, that's for sure. We are sitting jellies if we stay here." Marie said, clearly not too happy to be in this situation either.

"I'll go and-"

"We could try to spread out."

"But they would await us if we try to get him away on the platform Eight."

"Guys, I'll just-"

"Perhaps we could launch a counter attack with the same weapons they're using against us? We must have some of those laying around…"

"Guys, I-"

"But with how many they are, we'll need a truck full of the things to even make a dent in their numbers." Three now suggested, ignoring Will trying to say something.

"Can I just-"

"Maybe we-"

"Guys!" Will raised his voice. "I'll go with them."

"But…" Eight blurted out.

"All I could do otherwise is run or die, and they'd most likely find me again anyways. I'm going with them, and that's final."

"Go ahead." Three replied bluntly, gaining looks from the captain. "What? He wants to, I'm not stopping him."

Will got up, and put the phone to his ear. "I shall go with them, but leave the others out of this." And then ended the call, letting out a sigh of not only relief, but also the fear of what hung above him.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mira asked him as he stepped onto the platform.

"I'll have to." He sighed. "Besides, this way I could maybe find a way to sabotage the launch or something. I could try to make sure the cargo never makes it, one way or another. I can't think of the earth, my home, your guys' home, being blown up."

she remained silent as the platform started to move, no idea on how to react. She wasn't alone, even the captain didn't have anything to say. The only thing that she found odd was the slight grin on Three's face, but at this point she had given up trying to understand her.


	23. All systems ready

It was calm, and for once, it was calm inside her mind as well as she sat on the bed she had been put on not too long ago, watching what she, or rather whatever had been in control at the time, had done to this octoling.

The last few hours she could have sworn that whatever made her skin look green was traveling upward, slowly covering more and more of her neck, but at the same time it seemed like it was the same as it had been when she first saw it.

Mira still found it hard to believe, and it took her a long time to process it all too. First the introduction of new agents, then finding out that some extinct species still existed, then getting introduced to a place so dark and grim it made her nightmares seem happy and joyful, only to then be taken control of like some sort of puppet, and now ending up here, with someone possibly dying because of what felt like her wrongdoing.

"Four?" she heard Marie ask from just behind the door. "Do you want to talk? You've been in there for a few hours now."

Mira sighed. "Sure, come in."

She did just that, closing the door behind her and taking a seat next to her on the bed. "So, It's all a bit much, huh?"

"Yeah…"

"And you just can't sort it all out, can you?"

"no…"

"And you think this is all your fault, don't you?" Her voice, whilst not having changed a bit from how she normally talked, sounded oddly calming.

"Yes, and no…"

"Well, It isn't. You didn't know what Gramps and Three were and would be up to, that is all on them. It wasn't your fault that any of this was going to happen, you're just stuck in all of this since you're an agent, nothing more."

"So it could just as easily have been someone else?" Mira looked up at her, clearly closer to crying then bursting out in laughter.

She nodded. "If anyone else had decided to follow me here on that day, they'd be stuck in your position."

"But I'm here because of my mistakes…" Four looked down.

"Mistakes anyone could have made. Anyone could have ended up here, but now that we know it's you, you'll have to figure out how to go on and to make sure you learn from them."

"Like how I should never trust a chair in enemy territory?"

"Sure, if that's what you want…" She couldn't hide a grin, although it disappeared as the door was thrown open by her cousin.

"Hey you two! Gramps wants everyone at the table to discuss." She turned back around, leaving the door open. "And next time you guys do something fun, let me know in advance, alright?"

Marie shook her head and sighed: "Sometimes…"

* * *

"Alright, so now that everyone is here, let's go over the plan one more time." Three said as she had finally got everyone to be silent at the table.

"Yeah! Where do you want us to be?" Five asked her, clearly eager.

"You will stay at the entrance to make sure we have a clear exit for when we leave."

"Seriously?! That's so lame!"

"Pearl please, Three knows what she's talking about." Six said in an attempt to avoid a conflict.

"At least you get to do fieldwork." Two added. "Some of us can only watch and give support."

"Not that I'd be able to do much anymore, I'll leave that to you youngsters." The captain joined into the conversation as well.

"Anyway, If I can at least get to explain it to everyone." Three grumbled. "We have to go back down there and make sure that whatever it is gets stopped, or even destroyed."

"But how do we do that without knowing what we are even looking for?" Eight asked, as shy as ever, like she thought she was speaking out of line.

"That's what the people who stay here will try to look into, with some assistance from us."

"But what about Nine?" Eight then asked with clear worry.

"You shall stay here to take care of her if need be."

"Alright ma'am." She nodded, making Mira think of Devon answering her.

Three then continued. "Me, Four, and One shall go down, extract Seven, and bring a stop to their plan."

"Finally some good old action." One smiled.

"Just remember to not go out on your own, your colleagues are more skilled than you are and you know that." Her cousin tried to bring her back to reality.

"Yeah… but still, action! When do we go?"

"Right away. It is almost nightfall, and for as far as we know we could be too late if we leave next sunrise."

"Yes! Let me get my gear." She pushed herself back and ran over to the storage crates, starting to dig through them for her stuff.

One by one the rest left the table as well, getting into their assigned position. Four could see Eight leave to the side room to look over Devon, and couldn't help but sigh, thinking of how she must be feeling about what was probably already her friend laying there, injured and maybe already at the brink of death.

* * *

"So why did you not have Eight join us?" Four asked as the four of them were making their way down the ridge again.

"She deserved a break with all that has already happened to her." She got as a response, the agent not looking at her, as she was keeping an eye on their other two colleagues walking a little ways in front of them, happily chatting with one another.

"oh…" Four looked away again, directing her attention to the two in front of them as well. "I guess…"

"You don't have to understand, just accept I decided it."

She sighed by way of a reply.

As they walked further and further down they soon reached the cave entrance. There were no signs of any danger, yet the agents were all on edge, at least, Three and for were.

"Can't I really just go in there with you guys? Just a minute."

"You know what Three decided on, and let me tell you, you don't want to go against Three."

"Really? Then she doesn't know who she'd be up against." This comment made One laugh as the other two passed her, walking into the cave.

"Guys, Wait up!" She ran after the two, leaving Five behind to watch over the entrance and the surrounding area.

* * *

"So… where even are we going?" Four asked as they were navigating the maze of corridors.

"I've detected a bunch of activity somewhere nearby, so we thought you ought to check that out." she heard Six reply in her headgear.

"This place really gives me the creeps. They really need a new interior decorator."

"Last time you did that we ended up with neon lights everywhere down there." Three grumbled, reminding Four of the lower levels that had indeed seen some redecorating after she had been captured.

"At least it was colorful, this area is downright depressing."

As the three walked on, they started to hear sounds, those of some sort of warehouse, crates being moved, machinery doing some heavy lifting, metal just barely scraping against wood and some other metal, and last of all was a faint humming, like that of some sort of generator. As they walked further down what seemed to be the end of the hallway, the sounds only grew louder.

Eventually they reached the door. "Alright, this will most likely be it, so let us go over the plan once more." Three said after having already told it twice more as they were walking down here.

"Yeah, yeah, we heard you the first time." One tried to stop her by acting nonchalantly about it. "We go in, stop or destroy whatever they have working in there, rescue the human-"

"I never said that."

"...rescue their prisoner, and get out before we're caught. That's it, right?"

"Not exactly, it is not that easy to just-"

"Guys, there is a situation at the entrance." They all heard Two announce.

"What!?" Three asked, clearly annoyed.

"We aren't getting any replies from her anymore. If you could send one of you up there to check out what's wrong, that would be helpfull."

"She probably just forgot to put on her gear, but sure…" Three clearly wasn't in a good mood. "I'll let One check it out."

"Why me? you're both way better in combat then I am." She said in an attempt to not have to go back the way they came alone.

"I shouldn't have accepted that she was stationed there alone, but it's this way now. Get going, before something bad indeed happens."

"Sure…" The last of her positive attitude had disappeared, it was clear nobody had been happy to go down here, but Four had never seen her that far away from cheerful.

She walked off, dragging her roller behind her, creating a slim trail of ink behind her.

"Now that that's done, let's get this mission underway before more inconveniences happen."

"I know this place is really… eh… unpleasant, but could you at least try to not be so grumpy?" Four tried, looking away as she was treated to a gaze that clearly conveyed that she shouldn't have even brought it up in the first place.

"On my mark." Three said, holding up her right hand in which she wielded her weapon, holding the other against her side of the large double door that covered the entire ending of the hallway. Four placed her hand on the other door, waiting on her signal.

"Now!" She pushed her side open and rushed in, shortly followed by Four, who was then pulled back behind some crates. Looking back she saw Three, who had after entering immediately dashed to the side, hiding behind the crates only to pull her into the same hiding spot.

"What was that for!?"

"Ssssh!" She almost hissed. "This place is full of soldiers."

"It is?" She dared to peek, only to pull herself back into hiding as she saw dozens of sanitized octolings and octarians roaming the mostly open hall.

"How can we be sure this is the place we need to be?"

"with that many soldiers? There has to be something important here." Three peeked from behind the crates. "And I think I know what that would be."

"What?" She looked over, trying to get a better look of the room.

The hall had some crates scattered across it, them being moved, some dragged, others lifted with small cranes that drove on rails that were laid into the concrete floor. One thing almost immediately became clear: the crates were being moved aside, making a line from one side to the other.

As she looked at the walls, she realised both sides had something to see. One one side stood some large, short cylinder, tubing built onto it like some sort of maze, and from the front a faint glow visible through what she assumed were tiny windows.

On the other side were what could at first be described as two large metal pillars, almost in the shape of a cone, held up by supports from the walls behind them. Both had a large opening near the top, half the cylinder opened up to reveal the hollow inside, like it was some sort of large container.

"I wonder what they are putting in those."

As she looked longer she suddenly realised something. "Those… those things at the top of those cylinders, they are the same as where we found Seven in."

"They are what?!"

"But that thing had been said to have fallen out of the sky, maybe they were launched from here?"

"But why?"

She shrugged. "No clue, but maybe they are keeping him in one of those."

"Perhaps, but that isn't our main problem right now." Three said, noticing how the soldiers were gathering at the tube covered cylinder at the other end of the room.

"What are they going to do with that thing?"

"No clue."

After some time had passed a few of the sanitized soldiers came closer, carefully pulling on the large lid in the middle, it slowly opening, revealing the silverish gray glow that had also come out of the small windows.

slowly a large cylinder came out, clearly a source of the glow. A large crane mounted to the roof of the warehouse was used to hold it up and pull it out, slowly transporting it across the room.

"What would be in those things?"

"Whatever it is, it can't be good." Three sounded calm again, which Four could appreciate.

They saw how it was raised up and slowly turned to be mounted in the hole of one of the large metal cylinders, slowly going in, clearly a perfect fit.

"Maybe whatever is in there is used for those things?" Four suggested.

"We have to get there somehow though, there are way too many sanitized to just go down there and take them all out."

"You were even considering that!?"

"Ssshhh! Do you want our cover blown?" She said so forcefully Four didn't even think of replying.

After the first was loaded, the same repeated for a second, going into the second cylinder. After that was loaded, the sanitized octarians seemed to disperse, leaving the hall empty apart from the two agents.

"Alright, now we should have a look at these things." Three said as she got up, only to go back down again. "There's someone coming!"

* * *

"are you not excited?" Jan asked Will as they walked down one of the many corridors. "Wen we get back up, we will be at a new home before we know it."

"yeah…" he replied, not really feeling too well, knowing full well their departure would mean the destruction of the earth, and everything that lived on it.

"And we do not have to do anyting, everyting is self done."

"Sure…"

They walked on for a little longer, until he suddenly realised something.

"Say, what would happen if we never get that stuff up there?"

"But we will."

"But what if, hypothetically, we wouldn't?"

"I guess we would have to wait until the sun goes boom."

"But we'd be on our way when that happens, right?"

"I tink so."

"alright…"

They stopped at a small door and went in, ending up in a locker room filled with space suits. After having put them on they continued by taking a different door out, finding themselves in a giant room, on one side what he somehow remembered was the main reactor of this part of the facility, and on the other a pair of rockets, the freight compartments sealed and the tanks all filled up.

"So this is it…"

"it is. We could sit in a rocket apart or in one togeter."

"But who'll fly the other one?"

"I tink it is computer guided."

"Then how about we just get in one?"

"Sure." He started to walk towards one of the two elevator shafts that stood so close to the rocket it served that it almost seemed part of it.

He followed, getting in the elevator with him, and soon enough sitting down in the command pod, taking one of the three chairs in what seemed a lot like his old pod, although a little more spacious.

As Jan closed the door, he suddenly remembered something, but realised it was probably too late to bring it up now. All he did was let out a sigh, which his colleague couldn't even hear through their suits.

"So, let us go over te manuel." He said as he showed Will a rather thin booklet.

"Is everything in that little thing?" He looked at it in disbelief.

"yep. Let me see…" He started to read, occasionally looking up at one of the control panels. "We only need to use a couple butons on tis one." He pointed at the middle panel, filled to the brim with buttons, switches, and lights.

"But which ones?"

"Tis one to start…" He started to point at them. "Tis one is for the seat heating, tis one for ejecting the cargo, tis one for if we are struck by lightning, and tis one is for…"

Will had zoned out, staring at the cargo eject button. All he had to do was press it before docking and they wouldn't be able to go through with the plan. He felt a lot better as he heard Jan conclude his listing of the buttons. "Are we ready for lift off?"


	24. The ups and downs

**author's note:** So with the first chapter having released over a year ago and this one airing months after the previous one, some may wonder what's going on. Let's just say that I am finding that I end up having less and less time left for writing, and with other concepts already being worked out, these chapters end up taking a lot longer then before. Not to worry though, we are near the endgame now, and it should be said that I enjoyed the journey so far. May you all enjoy it too and may your day be a good one.

* * *

"Now!" Three jumped from behind their cover, expecting Four to follow, which she did.

They zigzagged between crates and boxes to reach the open middle of the room, passing not only countless wooden crates, but also large glass and metal boxes. While most of these were empty, Four's attention was caught by a pair that weren't.

The pair had a figure each in them, two rather tall and slim figures, reminding her of the few humans she had seen by now. She stopped to look, and indeed they were, but that wasn't what was the most noticeable. What was the sickly green color that their skin had, just like that of the sanitized soldiers she'd seen here. More unsettling was that one of the two looked exactly like the one that had been shot with a stingray before being carried back down here in front of their very own eyes. The other she didn't recognize directly, but seemed to match the description Devon had given.

"What's the holdup?" Three asked, stopping as she noticed that Four wasn't following them anymore. All she did in response was stare at the two glass containers.

Three looked over and smirked. "Serves them right. Now let's get moving." After saying this she went on her way, hoping it would be enough for the other agent to follow, which she indeed did, albeit perplexed by what she had just said.

As they maneuvered through the crates, almost to the open middle of the room, the ground started to shake, together with a loud thundering sound coming from the two cylinders.

"Move it!" Three said before transforming to a squid and making a hazardous quick jump in the direction of the now clearly active metal constructions.

Four tried to keep up, not risking a jump like her colleague had done, fearing she'd hit a crate to the side because of not being able to keep straight. She could see smoke starting to rise from below the bottom of the metal tubes, seeing giant flames coming out from below it.

Three was already waiting at the base of them, holding some sort of can. "I'll take the one on the left, you go to the right, it looks like we can enter from the top." She pointed at the metal framework housing elevators that went all the way up.

Four nodded and got ready to jump, taking her time to make sure she indeed stuck the landing. Three on the other hand seemed to either be extremely quick at it or just couldn't care less, already on her way up.

Landing on a metal grate, she had to quickly revert back to not slip through and fall back down. Looking up at the top of the cylinder, she saw what immediately reminded her of the pod in which Seven had arrived. It seemed a little larger, but still had a similar door, which she opened with some effort, leading to a interior too somewhat larger than she'd seen before, this one not having one, but three chairs, all behind some large panels with a crazy amount of buttons, switches, sliders, and screens.

"Three, how's it going on your end?" She asked, only getting some static mess as a reply.

"Three?" She tried again, but there was still nothing. "Three?!"

Still getting nothing, and with the roaring noise from below her getting ever louder, she gave up, stepping inside the capsule to see if there was anything that she could do that would stop whatever it was that was going on.

"_Just find a big red button, right? In movies every abort and self destruct button is red. I guess it's the best shot I have, or just press and pull on everything I suppose."_

She looked around, finding that there was even an entire panel filled with red buttons, and even more red coloured buttons scattered throughout the entire control panel.

"_Hold on, what if one of those is the button to activate everything? Those are usually red too, right? Why do I even think of that here, not like humans have seen our movies or something."_

She stared at the panels, unable to decide. In this time, the floor underneath her had started to shake even more violently than it already had done. However, this didn't stop her from feeling how all the sudden, with the sound of a loud clang to accompany it, the floor seemed to drop a tiny bit, then feeling like it got caught, only to be slowly pushed back up.

What freaked her out was not the movement at the start, but that it didn't seem to stop, the floor continuing to push up against her, like she stood in an elevator that was still speeding up. Looking over at the heavy door she saw it had closed, with a clear handle to pull on to open it back up.

The small reinforced glass windows in the capsule allowed her to see outside, albeit only straight up at the sky, and only a tiny part of it too, and not even that, since she only saw a little of the side of a metal chute leading up into darkness.

"_Is it me or are the walls moving down? Or am I moving up? Hard to say, but wherever we are going, it can't be good."_

a ray of daylight creeped in, followed by more as above her she saw how something opened up to reveal the light of the day that was about to come to an end.

* * *

"Do you hear tat?"

"Hear what?"

"I tought I heard someting bang on te outside of te rocket."

Will shrugged. "Maybe a loose rock? We're really deep. I don't think anyone would come down here and start hammering a rocket ready to take off."

"not like tere is anyone here anymore." Jan laughed. "not after this." he added with an inaudible voice, Will not hearing it.

Will instead was focusing on the button he knew was the button to ditch their cargo. Any moment now they would start their assent and then he only had to press that button to save everyone. Everyone who now lived on earth that was.

He knew that he could only get rid of half the cargo, for the other half would be on the other rocket, but he hoped it would be enough.

He didn't give the fact that his colleague had heard a sound a second thought, much to Three's frustration, as she was the one banging on the hatch with her hero shot, not able to open it.

Looking down she could see a plume of smoke, and the little floor she did see was packed with sanitized octarians, all looking up at her, as if to invite her down to give her a cold sanitized shower.

As quick as always she forged a plan. She had found a canister containing a special, and if she could use it and then escape using the smoke, she could stand a chance of making it out again. One thing she knew for sure, whatever was about to happen with these two metal towers, she clearly didn't want to be there when it happened.

Looking over at the other tower she saw Four enter into the capsule, and when she tried to make contact using her headpiece she realised it was letting out a constant static noise, overruled by the roaring from below until she actively tried to listen.

She took her canister and pulled it open, not knowing what would be in it, but hoping it would be of any use. She was in luck, for in it was packed a splashdown, possibly one of her favourite specials of the newer bunch.

She looked down once more, then over at the door they had come in from, halfway across the hall. She knew it was too far away to jump to in one go, but with all this smoke starting to fill the room down there could easily escape unseen after landing.

Three tried to block out the little voice called her consciousness telling her that Four would have no way out of here, and without her she wouldn't stand a chance against the army down below them. She was fully aware of what she was doing, but at least she was safe inside the top of that tower. Three wasn't so lucky however, now feeling how the grating she stood on that connected to the tower coming loose, shaking so much she almost fell off by accident. This was the moment she had to go, she knew it.

* * *

"One, Five. Can any of you hear us? Did something happen?"

Six was nervously pacing the room as Two repeated the same few sentences over and over again, hoping for a response.

"Well this is a rather unlucky turn of events." Even the Captain seemed on edge, something which seemed like it would tire him out a lot sooner than he had kept it up for by now.

"Tell me about it." Two said, the sarcasm so overdone it was practically dripping off of it.

"Three, Four, both down there, and now One isn't responding after going back to check in on Five. This sure is an unfortunate turn of events."

"I didn't…" She sighed. "nevermind… One, Five. Can any…" she continued to repeat, starting to feel like it was a lost cause.

"We should go out there to see if they're alright." Six suggested, clearly not liking the idea of something happening to One, let alone to Five.

"And lose even more of this splatoon? Have you lost it lady?!" He said, leaning back in his chair after doing so, clearly exhausted.

"Gramps! Don't overdo it, you're clearly in need of rest."

"I… I know…" He said between his heavy breathing.

"You should-" She abruptly stopped as she heard someone finally reply.

"What?" An annoyed voice she remembered all too well said, clearly thinking it was a waste of time to be even talking right now.

"Finally. What took you so long?"

"You know how long it took me to get back here? Because 'someone' didn't give me any directions as to get back out. Anyway I-"

"Is everything alright there though?"

"Yeah, yeah, everything's all fine here. I just had to show Pearl how to-"

"Names."

"I only… fine… I had to be the one to show Five how to turn on the radio in her headpiece. How didn't any of you think of telling her?"

"That's not important now. What is is that you two are out of trouble."

"Yeah we are. If anyone even thought about showing up, they'd be rolled over. Like anyone could stop-"

"Eh… guys?..." Five said, clearly uncertain.

"what?" Two sighed.

"Is it just me… or are there two large pillars rising from the ground?"

"wait… what!?" she looked over at a window, but found it didn't give her a view of the area they were in now.

"Yeah. Two large, metal rods going straight up… and that noise…" she could indeed hear a faint rumbling in the background.

"Look at that! They are not even on the ground!" One excitedly shouted. "Whatever those are, I sure want fireworks the size of those things at our next concert!"

"That would be a great idea." Five laughed. "That would for sure be the main-"

"Can you two focus on what those things even are?!" Two by now was clearly fed up with their lack of focus.

"What else are we supposed to say? That we're looking at large, metal fireworks?"

"... … …" Two honestly didn't know how to reply to that.

"That's right. So what now?"

"eh… Any idea where Three and Four are?"

"Last I was with them we were going down into that place that just started the largest firework show ever."

"wait… you don't think they…?"

"They don't what?"

"Are taped to those rockets, duh!" Five said, clearly finding that she should have understood what was meant by that.

"... eh... " She tried to see if she could see anyone stuck to the outside. "Doesn't seem so."

"That's really comforting." Five said with a cynical voice.

"Just… just get back here. Sending you in there wouldn't do us any good."

"Are you saying we can't take those soapy soldiers?!" The two said in sync, making it seem like they'd practiced it.

All they got as a reply was a deep sigh.

"Why not ask Eight to go search for them?" Six suggested, making Two look up, having just been reminded she was there too.

"If even Three can't get out, why would she?"

"You know she has beaten Three a multitude of times. She is clearly more skilled than her."

"And next you're going to tell me clams fly." She said with her well known sarcasm.

"I am not, all I am stating is facts, not nonsense like that."

"There is a reason we sent the three of them down there originally. We wanted them to not split up at all costs, and with One going back up almost immediately, we relied on those two to stick together."

"Maybe that is why they're still down there."

"But we're not sending more people down there, and most definitely not more of your kind!" She felt her mouth outpace her thoughts, no longer thinking before speaking.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" She raised an eyebrow, clearly offended.

"All we'd be doing is sending more down there knowing full well they will probably not see the light of day ever again. And next to that, have you even seen in what state she's in? She's been over by Nine's bed ever since they came back!"

"She indeed did seem attached to her. She would need time to grief."

"Grief? She barely knew her."

"Why not go see for yourself?"

"Fine…" Two sighed. "But then you'll need to stay here."

"I'll stay at the radio." She nodded, watching her get up and leave.

"Please excuse her."

"Huh?" She looked up at the Captain.

"She still needs to get over some things that have happened. You'd be in for a surprise when she finally does."

"If you say so…" she looked back at the radio. "She isn't the first…"

* * *

A large splash of ink pushed away the smoke around the place where Three came down, only to be engulfed in smoke again shortly after. She didn't know if she'd hit anyone, for the loud roaring was so loud that even the splashdown was inaudible, but she knew that she had to get moving, and so she did.

She soon enough reached the wall, following it to soon find the way which they had entered the hall. After traversing the hallways she reached a dead end. Realising that she must've gone the wrong way and that she was already quite a ways away from the hall she took a moment to catch her breath, feeling her hearts pounding from the near death experience.

Looking back she couldn't help but feel guilty. Four was still there, trapped by all those sanitized octarians, and maybe even trapped in those metal towers. Then it dawned upon her that they'd done nothing to stop whatever it was that was about to happen, they failed.

She sat down on the ground, looking up at the seemingly endless void which this place seemed to be suspended in. They had failed. They hadn't done anything but find their goal and then run. She had fled.

She now lay down on the stone tines, not able to suppress a giggle. Four was still stuck there, but what did it matter? They had failed, and that meant the end of everything. She knew humans brought nothing but bad news and even worse events. Everyone had tried to tell her she was wrong, but was she really?

Three tried to stop smiling, but the grin on her face seemed like it was engraved in stone, never to disappear. Is this how she would die? As the one who had to save everyone and having failed? The one solace was that nobody knew that she should've done something. Not that it had mattered if they knew or not, it would end all the same anyway.


End file.
